Matine Khalighi realized the importance of helping those in need at a young age. He was in 8th grade when he co-founded Helping Homeless Colorado, a youth-led nonprofit organization, which raised over $140,000 and successfully provided thousands of basic necessities to those experiencing homelessness across Colorado.
Through these efforts, he realized that in the United States, many students were struggling with homelessness, hindering them from getting a quality education. Inspired to take action, he worked with his team to transition Helping the Homeless Colorado to a national stage: EEqual.
EEqual is a ‘for youth by youth’ non-profit organization that provides greater educational access to students in poverty through scholarships, while also creating an advocacy movement among young student activists across the nation.
“It is fundamentally wrong that so many students have to decide between where they are going to spend the night or finishing their homework,” says Matine.
Matine and his team believe that “every student, regardless of their socioeconomic status, deserves an equal opportunity in education.”
EEqual has provided over $18,000 in scholarships to send students experiencing homelessness to higher education. In addition, through EEqual, Matine has created a team of 30+ passionate teens who power all of EEqual’s day to day programming.
Matine, an incoming freshman at Harvard, is excited and optimistic about all EEqual can do to make an impact on students across the nation. He hopes that EEqual will inspire thousands of young visionaries to come together to help create a more equitable future in education.
To learn more about EEqual, you can visit their website: www.EEqual.org.
