Trinity School was founded by Colombo-American citizens in Cali, Colombia in 1967, in an attempt to make their neighborhood a safer and better place for poor children. by offering them a free education and a meal.

• 400 students are enrolled at Trinity School, from 380 low-income families.
• 100 students are learning to play the violin or viola and take part in the school choir and/or Philharmonic orchestra in Cali.
• 20 Internet-ready computers are part of their educational experience

The Village Development Partnership developed by renowned social entrepreneur Mechai Viravaidya is an innovative endeavor to empower rural communities in Thailand and Cambodia to eradicate poverty and improve their quality of life. It is a genuine partnership between the villagers and a sponsoring company or organization, providing business skills training and capital to enable each village to have its own community owned and managed Village Bank.

The micro-credit program is managed through Population & Community Development Association (PDA), based in Bangkok, Thailand.

www.villagedevelopmentpartnership.org/vdp.asp

Through the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, we support ten graduate students every year seeking funding for unpaid international internships in the NGO sector.

Read more about the Blakeley Fellowship program

The SONG Project introduces Songwriting to women who have been marginalized by poverty, homelessness, violence, or trauma, as a tool for empowering them to tell their stories of oppression, resilience and hope in a creative and transformative way. Often, formal music education is not accessible to women who are poor, homeless, or otherwise marginalized, yet music and songs play an influential role in many of their lives. People find songs that they connect with, and carry them through the day as companions, filling the individual with a sense of a wider community that she is connected to and supported by.

Learn more and read lyrics by women of the SONG Project

The purpose of the Blakeley Outreach Program is to enhance opportunities for Avon Old Farms students to provide volunteer home building / renovation services in the United States in impoverished areas, to provide relief in disaster areas, or to work on environmental issues.

The Blakeley Outreach Program is intended to afford meaningful experiences for our students to make an immediate impact upon the welfare of the recipient(s). It will enable students, annually, to serve in a community for up to two weeks during Avon’s spring break in each March.

The Bicycle Program is managed by the Youth Committee in each village and supervised by the village’s Junior Officer. Students are trained on how to use and maintain the bicycles and are required to wear helmets to and from school and to keep their borrowed bike locked at all times. The children are taking ownership of the project in terms of honoring their community service requirement and managing the record keeping system. This program has proven to be very successful and with the continuing help of PDI will be expanded into other villages in Cambodia and Thailand.

Voix Libres’ goal is to offer alternatives to child labour in the mines, fields, garbage dumps and streets of Bolivia. Once trained and educated, the young people direct their own projects. Their commitment ensures long-term development for the common good.

www.voixlibres.org

Located in Vientiane, Laos, Les Artisans Laos is a social venture allowing disadvantaged, uneducated and often marginalized people (ie. single mothers), to receive an apprenticeship and to have the opportunity to get a job and earn their living with an acquired skill set.

www.artisanslao.com/index.html

From its inception in 1979, NAMI has been dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental illness.

For three decades, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has established itself as the most formidable grassroots mental health advocacy organization in the United States.

www.nami.org