WHO WE ARE
THE SITUATION
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, in the Philippines, there are about 5 million at-risk young adults with majority of whom are out-of-school youth. Not being able to receive proper education then further hinders them from improving their current situation. It has been found that when one child in the family gets a college degree, poverty incidence drops from 41.7% to 2.4%. This goes to show how big of a role education can play in these young adults’ lives.
messy beginnings
It all started in 2006 when founder Kristine Reyes-Lopez (Krie) visited Delancey Street Foundation in San Francisco where she realized that businesses can empower disadvantaged members of society. Delancey Street Foundation focuses on rehabilitating and integrating ex-convicts back into society through their multiple businesses. She was then inspired to create a social enterprise that focused on providing employment and rehabilitation of at-risk young adults.
Adapting that model here in the Philippines, Krie later put-up Messy Bessy Cleaners Inc. a then simple line of environmentally safe products, with the on-set initiative to help sexually abused girls.
about house foundation
In 2016, HOUSE Foundation was established after growing roots from working closely with the social enterprise Messy Bessy.
HOUSE Foundation, which stands for Helping Ourselves Through Sustainable Enterprises, works with the mission of providing holistic development for disadvantaged young individuals ages 18 to 30 years old in order for them to become self-reliant and responsible members of society.
Through an innovative, progressive, design-thinking approach, HOUSE aims to create systemic change by creating 100 business partnerships in 10 years, thus improving the lives of 10,000 working students and their families.