Strategic Plan 2025-2028

July 2025

Dear Alray Community,

Over the past few years, the Alray Scholars Program has doubled in size: from serving approximately 30 students annually to now supporting more than 60 students who are re-engaging in post-secondary education. In large part, that is thanks to all of you: the volunteers, donors, and partners helping to fuel the mission.

While we grew in size, we have maintained our high-touch and relationships-focused approach to supporting students. Some notable achievements include:

• We built our capacity to regularly engage scholars with their career development, ensuring that all scholars have a career goal and are working toward that goal with the support of their Alray mentor, staff, and other volunteers and partners. 
• Scholars continue to graduate at high rates with our support: 4 out of 5 Alray scholars have earned a degree, compared to just 1 out of 4 students re-engaging with college nationally (Source: National Student Clearinghouse Research Center). 
• With our growing network, we launched the Alumni Council to nurture alumni leadership and build pipelines for graduates to engage as mentors, board members and donors.  To date, 110 Alray Scholars have earned their college degrees, and we have awarded more than $1 million in scholarships!

Unfortunately, with recent federal policy changes, the path to a college degree will be more challenging for many Alray Scholars. With decreased federal funding for higher education and critical safety net programs, states and higher education institutions will likely make cuts to financial aid and student support services. Medicaid health insurance, SNAP food benefits, and other federally-funded basic needs programs will be harder for scholars to access. Students will be increasingly challenged to cover their basic needs and rising school costs.

In response, we will expand our focus on building a strong community of support around our students. We will strengthen existing partnerships and establish new ones to address scholars’ needs, while cultivating supportive relationships within the Alray community. Our goal is that no Alray Scholar will face a challenge alone on their journey to earning a college degree! Please see our Strategic Plan 2025-28 for more details.

Thank you for joining us in giving Boston students a second chance at college. 

Sincerely,

Debbie Nguyen, Executive Director, and Neil Swidey, President and Founder