About

Founder and President Dr. Sonia Rowe Brown created the concept for STAY In School during one of the many visits to her native country Jamaica. Dr. Sonia Rowe Brown observed that the adolescent boys and girls in some of the poorest communities were often absent from school and found idling at home or on shop plaza instead. Upon inquiry, Dr. Sonia Rowe Brown learned that many parents were unable to afford the necessary basic resources to send their children to school. Dr. Sonia Rowe Brown found out that their needs went beyond the required school supplies, like textbooks, pens, pencils and lunch. Girls had an urgent need for sanitary pads and other feminine products, and the boys were badly in need of haircuts and grooming supplies. From there on Dr. Rowe Brown vowed to assist adolescent youth not just in Jamaica, but in any community where the needs of youth and family are dire.

STAY In School is guided by the mission to support youth and family to provide a free lunch program, deliver sanitary products, grooming supplies, undergarments among other basic necessities. The plan is to raise funds and resources to support those adolescent youth in need. To execute this plan Dr. Rowe Brown recognized that a formal organization must be set up to amplify support. Dr. Sonia Rowe Brown conceptualized that to acquire these resources she must mobilize people not just in the United States but also in Jamaica, the Caribbean, North, South and Central America, and those diasporas around the world.

As the founder of STAY In School, Dr. Rowe Brown plans to use a variety of platforms to raise funds in order to carry out its purpose and mission. Use of online crowd funding, fundraising activities, single and group cash or kind donations, funding, granting writing are some of the best effective approaches. Through volunteer and philanthropy, the plan is to seek out and coordinate with individuals, community organizations, government, private businesses and nonprofit organizations to secure partnerships in this venture.