Our Story
kNOw Limits Foundation exists in the gap between what Arizona schools can provide and what our young people deserve. We don’t wait for systemic change. We build the bridge.
Mission, Vision & Values
Mission
Expanding access to education, careers, and opportunity for the next generation.
Vision
A world where every young person is confident, connected, and career-ready, living a life without limits.
Values
Meet Our Founder
Antoinette Mendez is a former school counselor who spent over a decade watching students search for a bridge from “I don’t know what’s next” to a real plan, and not find one. She founded kNOw Limits Foundation to build that bridge herself.
Meet the Full Team →Why We Exist
Arizona’s youth face a growing opportunity gap. Despite a robust statewide economy, Maricopa County youth, particularly Black, Latino, foster-involved, and first-generation college students, are significantly underrepresented in college enrollment, high-wage careers, and CTE credential programs.
No HBCU exists in Arizona. Only 16.8% of Black Arizona high school graduates complete a bachelor’s degree within six years, compared to 31.2% of their white peers.Source: Arizona Board of Regents, 2023
Phoenix has the worst youth disconnection rate among the 25 largest U.S. metros. Black youth nationally face a disconnection rate nearly 2x that of white peers.Source: Measure of America, One in Seven
Arizona needs 20,000 new construction workers by 2030, and Black and Brown youth are dramatically underrepresented in the skilled trades pipeline.Source: BuildItAZ / Talent Ready AZ, 2025
Only 30% of Arizona’s Class of 2024 enrolled in a 4-year college directly after high school.Source: Arizona Department of Education
Arizona sits at 49% postsecondary attainment, short of the state’s 60%-by-2030 goal, and needs roughly 500,000 more credentials to close it. Black, Latino, and Native American Arizonans are named priority populations in closing that gap.Source: Education Forward Arizona / Achieve60AZ, 2025 Progress Meter
Black Arizonans hold a bachelor’s degree or higher at 24.4%, compared to a statewide average of 29.4%, a gap documented for over a decade by The State of Black Arizona report.Source: The State of Black Arizona, ASU & Greater Phoenix Urban League; U.S. Census
Year 0: Before We Launched
Before our formal programs began, we ran two pilots in 2025 to prove the model worked, entirely self-funded and with zero grant dollars. The results became the foundation for everything we’re building now.
Where Limitless Pathway Academy Began
Long before kNOw Limits Foundation existed, our founder led HBCU campus tours in 2017 and 2018, watching students see themselves on a college campus, many for the first time. That experience became the blueprint for LPA.
These photos are from 2017–2018, years before kNOw Limits Foundation was founded. They document the personal experience that inspired Limitless Pathway Academy, not an official Foundation program tour.
Our Partners
Every Year 0 outcome was made possible by community partners who believed in the model before we had a track record.
Certified Work-Based Learning Partner, in partnership with Elevate EdAZ
Arizona Gives Day Participating Nonprofit, a Program of AZ Impact for Good