A Word From Our DirectorOur goal is to provide high quality, career-focused training primarily to under-served youth from migrant farm-working parents who have little to no education, but do have a desire to see their children flourish and create a better life beyond field work. That is difficult to do for a child growing up surrounded by poverty and without role models.
Through Taste the Impact, these youth are exposed to both role models and opportunities that spark hope for brighter futures. We provide not only knowledge of career options but also the practical experience needed to be truly hirable in today's job market. Taste the Impact gives our students a platform to have a voice and make a difference. They are creating something that the world sees as valuable, which has instilled a sense of pride and confidence in children who otherwise had none. They are no longer the underdog; they are game changers. -Marie Capita, Executive Director of Taste the Impact |
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S U C C E S S
Since 2014
Since our beginnings in 2014, the founding students pictured above are flourishing in college campuses around the country – the first in their families to have the opportunity to obtain a college education. That success has continued with the many students who have participated in Taste of Immokalee since. Our graduates attend these universities and more:
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Arcadia University
Cornell University Columbia College Grinnell College |
Florida Gulf Coast University
Florida Southwestern University Florida State University |
Santa Fe College
St. John's University University of Florida University of South Florida |
Career-Ready and Equipped for SuccessMeet some of our graduates and see how our entrepreneurship program has equipped them for success.
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Student Spotlight
Photo credit: Columbia College website
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RegineRegine remembers watching the other children play carefree on the school playground as she wondered if her family would have food on the table that night. From the farm fields of Immokalee to the Ivy League campus of Columbia College, Regine's success is a testimony to what can happen when a driven, bright young teen is inspired and given a chance to succeed.
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AlfredoGrowing up in a migrant farmworker family, Alfredo remembers the life of picking tomatoes before and after school, sometimes switching schools up to four times a year as they followed the picking seasons. Now a graduate of the prestigious Grinnell College, Alfredo continues his pursuit of becoming a doctor.
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ElizabethElizabeth watched her parents work hard in the fields, under the scorching sun, to provide shelter for her and her siblings. By the age of ten, she worked alongside them. It was difficult to keep up with school work when the family frequently moved with the seasons, chasing work. "But through it all, we learned the value of hard work." Read how that work ethic combined with the business and leadership training she received in our program, equipped Elizabeth to achieve her dreams.
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EricWhen Eric Garcia joined Taste of Immokalee as a sophomore in high school, his entire world changed. The son of immigrant farm workers from Guatemala, he grew up in Immokalee surrounded by poverty yet filled with a desire to do something about it. See how Eric's passion and the business skills he learned through Taste of Immokalee earned him a full scholarship to Cornell University, and a future brighter than anything he could imagine just a few years earlier.
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JOIN OUR MISSIONYour Support Changes Lives
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