The Help Yourself Win Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) public charitable organization, is the result of the 2019 consolidation of the Help Yourself Foundation and Schenectady-Win, Inc.
Founded in 2005, the Help Yourself Foundation establishes programs linked to colleges for children beginning in third grade and continues the successful initiative begun at Beloit College in 1988. Using a STEM curriculum (science, technology, engineering, and math), Help Yourself shows those in the hands-on program college can be part of their future.
Schenectady-Win (WIN), created in 2016, takes those who are either unemployed or underemployed and gives them a second chance. Requiring participants to earn a high school degree during the course of the program (if they do not already have one), Win provides life-skills training throughout the initiative, an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) card so students can work on a construction site, NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) course work, and construction training in framing, taping, sheet rocking, and painting.