For nearly a decade, Dr. Denise Nuñez and her nonprofit have been mentoring young Bronx residents to become the next generation of leaders.

“We started as kinda more getting involved with the Latino community, but we don't discriminate," Dr. Nuñez, a pediatric intensivist and founder of Niños de la Caridad. "Anybody that wants to come and join, they can join."

Nuñez says her mission began after losing one of her teen patients to drugs.

“I totally went home, sat down with my husband and kids. I said guys this happened to me today, we either leave or we decide to do something about this," she said with passion. " [Even] if it’s one person that we save, it’s very important."

According to the Center for Urban Future, just 20% of Bronx residents have a college degree. But Nuñez’s nonprofit is breaking that barrier — seven years later, Niños de la Caridad has helped thousands of students and sent more than 300 Latinos to college.

“We can do this together. there’s hope that not everything is so bad out here in the Bronx,” she said.

Inside her classroom, sticky notes fill the walls — not for the kids, but for the parents. With many non-English-speaking families in the program, Nuñez says success depends on empowering parents too.

“It’s the regular things [ like teaching parents English] before we teach them about FAFSA, about the application to college… all that and scholarships…. we start slow.”

By the end of October, Nuñez expects to welcome more than 110 high school juniors and seniors into the free program — continuing her mission to change the Bronx, one student at a time.

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