I am truly grateful to our team for putting the young people first in this very, very challenging time. The program team, the finance team, and the development team all found paths to teach, engage, support, and nourish a talented group of young people. There were many differences running our programming while in a pandemic—Zoom meetings, masks in the parks, and never meeting some of our youth face-to-face—but one big change I did not anticipate is that the gratitude from young people was more palpable than ever.

The youth tell us the work experience they gain through their Enterprise internships changes their lives, sets them on positive paths, and gives them more clarity about how to achieve their own goals.

One of my highlights this summer was when Leydi Romero said that hearing a baby’s heartbeat confirmed her desire and resolve to be a pediatrician. That kind of personal inspiration and agency is exactly what the world needs!

This aplomb gained with work experiences can catapult their careers and act as one of the building blocks for who they are as individuals. Young people have shown great strength and perseverance during these difficult months. We are so impressed with the youth who raised their hands to work in these strange times. Enterprise, too, will grow stronger as an organization as we assimilate a lot of what we learned this summer into our future training and programs.

With this impact report and 2020 highlight, we shine a bright light on our past year and a half. I hope you enjoy combing the pages and finding inspiration in either our amazing donor list, the incredible feedback from the youth,

our collaborating partners’ generous feats, or the personal stories from individual youth who make our efforts an honor. I wish you wellness and health.

Yours warmly,

Nínive Calegari
Chief Executive Officer