Grants 1999

Listed below are the grants we awarded in 1999:

Afghan Institute of Learning

$5,000/525,535 rupees
Peshawar, Pakistan
Executive director: Sakena Yacoobi
http://www.creatinghope.org/ail.htm
SakenaY@aol.com
In response to the prohibition against educating girls while the Taliban regime was in power in Afghanistan, the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) created and operated secret home schools for girls who wished to continue their education. AIL recruited and trained teachers and operated schools in three Afghan cities from its headquarters in Peshawar, Pakistan. GFC's grant to AIL helped support 44 home schools serving more than 1,350 girls in grades one through six in Herat, Kabul, and Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

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Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development

$3,000/11.461 million riel
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Executive director: Sothea Arun
cvcd@forum.org.kh
Cambodian Volunteers for Community Development (CVCD) is dedicated to improving the lives of Cambodia's poor children, especially urban youth, prostitutes, street children, and amputees. The organization provides educational and social programs, including English-language classes, computer skills training, tree planting, and neighborhood cleanups. The organization also encourages volunteerism in exchange for educational opportunities and health care. GFC’s grant to CVCD was used for general support of its programs.

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Children's Town

$3,250/8.557 million kwacha
Malambanyama Village, Zambia
Executive director: Moses Zulu
chiladaid@zamnet.zm
Children’s Town is a school, a skills-training center, and home to over 200 former Zambian street children and AIDS orphans (aged 9–21). All the children participate in running the town through a rigorous program in which they learn how to produce food, raise farm animals, maintain the buildings and surroundings, and run a general store. GFC's grant to Children's Town funded the purchase of building materials and educational tools and helped support the maintenance of the group's structures and grounds.

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The Christ School

$3,000/4.328 million new shillings
Bundibugyo, Uganda
Founder and executive director: Kevin Bartkovich
KevinandJD@aol.com
Open to all students regardless of class, religion, or gender, the Christ School provides education to a population devastated by civil unrest and conflict. GFC’s grant helped purchase educational materials such as textbooks for this secondary school.

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Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae

$3,250/5,916 real
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Founder and executive director: Jose de Pereira
afroreggae@ax.apc.org
www.afroreggae.org.br
Grupo Cultural Afro Reggae (GCAR) offers educational and cultural programs for at-risk youth from the most impoverished areas of Rio de Janeiro while working to strengthen public awareness of Afro-Brazilian culture. GFC’s grant provided general support to GCAR’s programs, which incorporate music, dance, capoeira, and other activities that expand participants’ understanding of Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions and broaden their view of their futures. GCAR students perform throughout Rio de Janeiro.

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Grupo Primavera

$3,000/5,010 real
Campinas, Brazil
Founder and executive director: Jane Sieh
gprima@feac.org.br
www.gprimavera.org.br
Grupo Primavera provides a rigorous four-year leadership program and nonformal education classes for street girls. The girls are directly involved in running the organization and participate in producing traditional Brazilian dolls. GFC’s grant was used to purchase and install a computer system to expand the organization’s technological capacity.

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IPODERAC

$3,000/25,868 pesos
Puebla, Mexico
Executive director: Augustín Landa
fondoipoderac@avante.net.mx
www.ipoderac.org.mx
Located on 20 acres of land, IPODERAC is a residential school and training center that offers a safe and healthy family environment for abandoned street boys aged 5–20. Integrated throughout the program is an emphasis on fostering personal identity, greater self-esteem, and productive work habits. IPODERAC operates several incoming-producing workshops on the premises, including soap making and cheese making. GFC’s grant supported IPODERAC’s mission to provide leadership training in addition to basic needs such as food and shelter.

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Nishtha

$2,400/93,600 rupees
Baruipur, India
Executive director: Mina Das
minadas@vsnl.com
Located in rural West Bengal, Nishtha's work is focused on helping girls and women gain leadership skills and confidence and to take greater control of their lives. Nishtha involves the entire community in its effort to eliminate child labor and illiteracy and inspires social activism among its young people. GFC’s grant to Nishtha supported the Balika Bahini and Kishori Bahini leadership programs for girls and young women, respectively, which combine nonformal education and basic health care.

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Ruchika Social Service Wing: The Train Platform Schools

$3,675/143,325 rupees
Bhubaneswar, India
Founder and executive director: Inderjit Khurana
rssobbs@hotmail.com
The Train Platform Schools provide nonformal education classes to thousands of child laborers who live on or around train platforms in railroad stations. Teachers set up informal classrooms on the railway platforms and give children access to books, arts and crafts, and music. GFC's grant, made possible by Mirman School families in Los Angeles, supported the operation of 12 Train Platform Schools, serving over 500 children. This grant was also used to build an endowment to ensure sustainability for the Train Platform Schools in the future.1998 grant: $1,200

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STREETS

$3,000/16,948 rands
Cape Town, South Africa
Founder and executive director: David Fortune
streets@iafrica.com
STREETS provides street children with basic needs such as food, clothing, and medical care, as well as counseling and skills training to facilitate their transition from life on the street to life in the community. Moving beyond reform schools and traditional relief efforts, STREETS uses innovative forms of reconciliation that effectively bring street children, families, and communities together in understanding and action. This grant provided general support for this organization.

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Grants by Year

For previous years’ grants, please click on the following links.
2007 Fall
2007 Spring
2006–2007
2005–2006
2004–2005
2003–2004
2002–2003
2001–2002
2000