The nucleus effort for The Michael Smith Foundation will be MAF’s First Passport Program that is aimed at helping anyone obtain their first passport to travel, planting the seeds of international tourism. The one criterion to apply for a first passport award is that the individual has never had a passport or traveled outside of the country to a destination that requires a passport.
To date, The Michael-Anthony Foundation has paid for over 70 first passports in Michael’s name and has a goal of 500 first passports supported within the first five years. Also, The Michael-Anthony Foundation has sponsored two youth from Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School on an international cultural emersion/service experience in Ecuador: July 2020. MAFs plan is coordinate its own international trip for youth in the nearest future possible.
Given the current challenges related to travel in the midst of COVID-19, the Michael Anthony Foundation has postponed the Passports Program Application until September 2021. We will update communications as we learn more about the capacity of the Passport Office that will be most helpful to the individuals
that we serve.