First Step Academy

First Step Academy is located in Pomadze, Ghana, West Africa. Pomadze is a rural community in Ghana’s central region where a high number of girls do not persist in school past class 6 as a result of teenage pregnancy, child marriage, and familial pressures to work to support the family’s income. In an effort to curb such incidences by promoting sound educational practices among young children, First Step Academy is raising the next generation of Ghana’s leaders and providing economic independence to the local community. Currently, First Step Academy enrolls 115 children ages 3-10 and employs 6 full-time staff.

Stephen Addo, the founder of First Step Academy, began working 8 years ago with an organization that rescues and rehabilitates children who’d been trafficked into Ghana’s exploitative labor industry. Through Stephen’s first-hand experiences with hundreds of children and families in what know as “modern day slavery,” Stephen realized his vision to start a school in his own community where children could receive a quality education and families would be empowered and educated themselves about the importance of their child’s education.

With the continued support of our donors, First Step Academy subsidies over 95% of school fees and is able to continue to support children so they can let their light shine across Ghana and the world!