Year 0 Impact: The Proof Before the Promise

Before we launched a full slate of programs, we ran two pilots to prove the model works. Here is exactly what happened, in the numbers and in the words of the students and mentors who lived it.

Youth Served Across 2 Pilots

93%

Future Ready Workshop Completion

100%

MCU Pre-Apprenticeship Completion

100%

MCU Grads Employed Within 30 Days

"In Year 0, kNOw Limits Foundation served 27 youth across two pilot programs with a 93% and 100% completion rate, respectively, and 100% of MCU graduates secured employment in skilled trades within 30 days of exit."

Pilot 1: Future Ready Financial Literacy Workshop

The "Bite of Reality" Financial Literacy Fair, co-hosted with TruWest Credit Union on November 8, 2025 in Phoenix. 27 students registered, 25 completed, a 93% completion rate. Every participant took a pre- and post-program survey aligned to CFPB financial literacy building blocks.

Outcome	Before	After	Shift
Will track my spending	40%	96%	+56 pts
Will create and follow a budget	56%	100%	+44 pts
Know not to pay only the credit card minimum	20%	60%	+40 pts
Will set a savings goal	76%	100%	+24 pts
Would go to a credit union for help	56%	80%	+24 pts

100% of completers left committed to budgeting and savings goals. Spending-tracking intent, the single highest-impact financial behavior, shifted by 56 percentage points.

Pilot 2: MasterCraft University (MCU) Pre-Apprenticeship

Two high school seniors, both with 2 years of ADE CTE Construction coursework, completed 120 hours of real, supervised renovation work at the MCU Live Lab, an active bathroom renovation at 2:Ten Church in Phoenix. Not a simulation: demolition, drywall repair, plumbing disconnection, subfloor installation, and tile installation, all on a real community building.

Volunteer mentors rated intern task performance on a 4-point scale (1 = needed significant improvement, 4 = close to professional standard). The finished bathroom renovation was evaluated as close to professional standard across multiple task areas.

"Final product of work was a great display of their skills. Bathroom tile work was most impressive to me."Volunteer Trades Mentor, MCU Pilot

Both graduates are employed in the trades today. Ryan is working with our employer partner on active job sites. Deandre is employed full-time at a Phoenix-area utility company, reporting at 5:30am daily and applying his financial literacy training to his own budgeting. Both moved through the exact pipeline kNOw Limits Foundation is built to scale: ADE CTE Construction coursework, MCU Pre-Apprenticeship, direct employment.

Year 0 Aggregate Results

100%

of mentors say they would return for future cohorts, in some capacity

66.7%

of mentors rated ADE CTE training 5 out of 5 in preparing students for real job-site work

+40 pts

increase in credit card literacy, tripling from 20% to 60%

This Is Year 0. Year 1 Goes Further.

27 students proved the model. Our 2026 to 2028 strategic goals build on this proof: 300+ students educated, 75 industry mentors engaged, 25+ employer partnerships secured, and 250 students certified workforce-ready. Every gift and every partnership moves us further down that road.

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