About us
Bridging the gap between young people and opportunity.
Above & Beyond Nonprofit was established to dedicate services and resources to helping bridge the gap between children, youth and young adults in underserved communities and villages.
Our story
Why Above & Beyond?
In 2018, Marsha Houser developed the name “Above & Beyond” during a conversation about sports and athletes. The observation behind it: successful players have to go above and beyond their normal training to become champions.
The organization was built on that idea. Children, youth and young adults grow the same way — through effort beyond the minimum, and through adults and communities willing to do the same for them.
Above & Beyond seeks to expose young people to opportunities and educational resources including S.T.E.M., Agriculture, Sports, Dance, Music, Educational Camps, Youth Development and Community Resources.
Mission
Above & Beyond Nonprofit was established to dedicate services and resources to helping bridge the gap between children, youth and young adults in underserved communities and villages.
Vision
A generation of children, youth and young adults in underserved communities who have seen what is possible for them — in classrooms, on fields, on stages, on farms and in their own communities — and have the resources and mentorship to reach it.
What guides us
Our Values
Effort Beyond the Minimum
Champions do not stop at what is required. We hold ourselves to the same standard we ask of the young people we serve.
Community First
Programs are shaped with communities and village leadership, not designed at a distance and delivered.
Dignity
Young people are capable now. We show them opportunity, not pity.
Honesty
We publish what we can verify. Where we do not yet have numbers, we say so.
Our approach
Programs Built With Communities
Listen
Work with community leaders, schools and families to understand what is missing — not what is easiest to deliver.
Expose
Put young people in front of the opportunity: S.T.E.M., sport, arts, agriculture, camps and mentorship.
Resource
Bring materials, volunteers and partners so the programming can actually run.
Sustain
Return, report honestly on what happened, and build toward additional regions.
Where We Work
The organization has a particular focus on communities throughout the Greater Accra area and Central Region of Ghana, with hopes of expanding into additional regions.
- Preschools
- Primary Schools
- Junior Secondary Schools
- Senior Secondary Schools
- Lady Heike School
- Royal Seed Home
Areas of interest for future work. No partnership is claimed until confirmed.
History
A Short Timeline
Above & Beyond publishes dated milestones only where they can be verified. Additional history will be added here.
2018
Marsha Houser develops the name “Above & Beyond” during a conversation about sports and athletes.
Today
Above & Beyond Nonprofit operates from Upper Marlboro, Maryland, with Above & Beyond Events LBG registered in Greater Accra, Ghana.
Help us go Above & Beyond.
Whether you volunteer, donate, mentor, sponsor or partner with us, your support helps create new opportunities for communities in the United States and Ghana.