The Foundation is happy to partner with Codeni, through AHALA, to continue their education programs,  Codeni in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico  focuses on empowering street children to overcome the debilitating impacts of life on the street. They provide literacy classes, homework tutoring, arts and crafts, educational workshops related to the risks of the street, life-planning projects, and organized sports and recreation. In addition, families with strong participation are assisted with monthly food baskets, educational scholarships, psychological attention and social services for other needs detected by our staff of social workers and street educators. In 2007, they established a 501(c)(3) organization, AHALA Children’s Rights Foundation in order to provide financial support for CODENI’s programs.

With the issues of COVID, school has been specially difficult for their participants since all classes are held online and  most of the students do not have a computer.  Keeping up with classes has been hard and in many cases impossible.  As a way to continue the educational mission, AHALA choose to initiate  a fall fund drive to provide laptops for the youth of CODENI, which the Foundation matched for every dollar raised.   Happily the children the needed computers and access to a facility that allow for a meaningful year of schooling

The Foundation is pleased to support Minority Humanitarian Foundation  The mission of MHF is to provide a humanitarian response to the issues facing asylum-seekers and refugees on a global scale. MHF believes that all humans should be treated with dignity and respect, despite country of origin. Through on-the-ground relief efforts, health services, housing, transportation services and legal representation they work to ensure the health and safety of the people they work with. Then through education and job placement they work to ensure their success in a new country.

MHF  helps refugees, asylees & asylum seekers with basic needs, transportation, and transitional services. When they are released from detention at the San Ysidro border, MHF is there waiting. They provide them with quick and safe transportation from the border to a hotel or host family. They provide them with clothing, suitcases, hygiene items, baby formula, diapers, and essential items. If someone needs medical assistance they will take them to the doctor and ensure they get proper care before traveling. From here they arrange their travel, via plane, train, bus or Lyft, to their family or sponsor home in America. If they have nowhere to go MHF will work to find them a long-term sponsor home.

Some nights they have waited for the ICE bus to release people until 3am. MHF waits for the bus to ensure the safety of the people being released. Instead of sleeping on the street, they will make sure they sleep in a warm bed. 95% of these people have family somewhere in the United States they are trying to reunite with. Usually they don’t even have a cell phone to contact them. MHF ensures each person picked up is reunited with their family. If they can’t afford their own travel, MHF will arrange it for them. They hold their hand each step of the way, until they walk them through TSA security and leave them at their airline gate. There is no official post-release program in place for people being released from ICE detention. They are usually the only organization waiting for the ICE bus when they go down to the border to pick up a client. MHF may have knowledge that one person is being released, and end up helping 10. The organization has provided services and case management for hundreds of refugees, asylees & asylum seekers this year alone. Funds are used to purchase hotel rooms, transportation, luggage fees, and basic needs for the families. The result of the program is life-changing to those that need help.

The Foundation is pleased to continue their support of the West End Center in Roanoke, VA.

The mission of West End Center is to provide a safe place for children after school and during the summer. The purpose of West End Center is to equip children with the assets they will need to become successful adults by providing programs that meet their key developmental needs: academic education, social skills development, and overall wellness.

The funds will be used to provide West End Center’s educational programs to 150 disadvantaged school-aged children, specifically to pay the staff who teach the children and provide strong role modeling and support, and a small portion will be used for learning materials and outings. There are several components to the academic program. Children participate in tutoring four days each week. During these sessions, they complete homework assignments with the help of volunteers and professional staff and then work on enrichment activities. They participate in reading class twice each week in the school year and daily during the summer. The teacher uses the After School KidzLit curriculum, a program designed specifically for the after-school setting that uses engaging literature and hands-on activities. Emphasis is placed on STEM activities daily during the summer program. The education director also provides oversight and monitoring of the children’s academic progress. The social skills program relies on PeaceBuilders, an evidence-based curriculum that focuses on anti-bullying as well as a leadership curriculum for older students. Social skills development is emphasized in every environment and activity at West End Center. The Wellness program has a dual focus: fitness and nutrition. Children participate in a wide variety of physical activities, many that can be done throughout their lifespans. They also learn about good nutrition in addition to enjoying healthy meals and snacks daily at West End Center. Favorite activities include gardening and preparing their own snacks. In order for fragile families headed by single mothers to be successful, there must be high quality educational programs and dependable childcare. In order for the children enrolled in the program to escape the cycle of generational poverty, they must have access to programs that will support their acquisition of critical assets. This is not a problem that will be solved this year or next but only with ongoing, sustained efforts. West End Center has a successful track record of making a difference in the lives of the children who attend. Research has established the effectiveness of high quality out-of-school programs. The ability of out of school programs to provide hands-on, experiential learning is a particular strength.

The Foundation is pleased to again support the  IRC during these difficult times.  The International Rescue Committee was founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein to aid Germans suffering under Hitler. More than 80 years later, they are working in over 40 countries helping people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict or disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC responds to some of the world’s worst crises, delivering aid that saves lives while paving the way for long term recovery.

Funds will support their preparedness, prevention and response efforts designed to stanch the spread of the virus and mitigate the multifaceted negative impacts of the outbreaks on the world’s most vulnerable families and communities. the grant will benefit the world’s most vulnerable people such as refugees, internally displaced families and members of communities that host them in 34 countries. Funds will be specially used in 3 areas: supporting staff safety, ensuring the continuity of critical existing programs, and conducting frontline response to the COVID-19 pandemic. More specially funds will be used to scale up their frontline response to the pandemic, establish COVID-19 isolation units, support infection prevention and control efforts, conduct community level testing and contact tracing, educate communities and provide technical global and regional support to the field. Funds will be spent over a 2 year period as the effects of COVID-19 will be lasting. Funds will primarily be spent in South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

The Foundation is pleased to again support MUAFCIG during these difficult times.  MUAFCIG was created in 2012 by a group of dynamic young men and women with the goal of empowering the poor and needy in rural and semi urban communities in the South West Region of Cameroon, Africa. MUAFCIG belief is rooted in teaching people on how to catch a fish and not just giving them a fish.

The Grant will be used  for their relief and emergency aid project that is aimed at empowering over 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), primarily made up of vulnerable and poverty stricken women and children who are mostly widows and orphans. The COVID-19 pandemic is a threat that is spreading in the South West Region of Cameroon and claiming lives. This project is intended to relieve extreme human suffering through provision of humanitarian assistance to many families that are victims and who have already been affected by the current crisis in Southern Cameroon. They are living in Buea and Bangem sub divisions without any reliable source of income. The project objectives include ways to sensitize IDPs and the general population alike on the dangers of COVID-19. It takes measures to reduce the spread of the virus in the Buea and Bangem sub divisions. It provides hand washing facilities, face masks and hand sanitizers to over 1,000 vulnerable people. They will also distribute essential food and other items to homes hosting many displaced families. Additionally, they work to provide displaced children (many of whom are orphans and girls) with educational support, so that they can return to school. This emergency aid project is necessary as many are faced with severe hunger and have been dying of starvation for many years, even before the pandemic hit. Children, in addition to being out of school are already suffering from malnutrition and limited access to health care facilities. Host families, who are mostly peasant farmers, are unable to cope with the increased number of people in need. Consequently, MUAFCIG expresses fear that these vulnerable women and children may die from the COVID-19 infection itself, but also from hunger and psychological trauma. The project will help provide relief for many individuals who have been suffering. It will provide educational assistance and food for children who have been internally displaced as well as help host families, widows, homeless, and disabled persons. It will also improve personal hygiene of vulnerable populations, especially girls, and help curb the spread of the COVID-19 threat that is diminishing the region’s population. Above all, the project will help prevent the local populations, who otherwise do not have access to reliable support from an NGO or government, from dying of hunger, starvation, and trauma.

The Foundation is pleased to support the efforts of BeyondHomes.  In 1986 Connie Zimmerman was moved by a co-worker at an assisted living facility who lost his home despite having a job. She responded by beginning the journey to raise money and get him and his family house. In 1988 she created a 501c3 to help working families obtain housing and secure a career which allowed them to stay housed. BeyondHome has three main goals: economic self-sufficiency, career development, and family stability for Colorado Homeless.

BeyondHome works to address the problem of homelessness facing working families, most of whom are single moms who have overcome domestic violence. BeyondHome solves the problem through affordable housing and programming that leads to a livable wage career, allowing these families to become able to provide housing and take care of their needs upon graduation from the BeyondHome program. BeyondHome serves an average of 47 working families that were formally homeless or on the verge of becoming homeless each year. This is done through the BeyondHome SelfSufficiency Program and the WWAC Scholar program that has an additional 14 single mom scholars. Five of our WWAC Scholars also live in BeyondHome housing. While 80% of the families at BeyondHome are single moms, BeyondHome also works with refugees, immigrants, and other two parent households who need a second chance at life. BeyondHome will use  funds received from the Kathryn B. McQuade Foundation to help their single moms in both the Self-Sufficiency Program and WWAC Scholar Program. While they care deeply for all the families that they work with, they know that single moms have many added challenges to overcome. BeyondHome’s Self-Sufficiency Program and WWAC Scholar Program take on a comprehensive, relational approach to allow families to heal from past wounds and to prepare themselves financially for a successful, self-sufficient future. There are currently 165 individuals in the program, all of whom were classified as low-income upon entering their programs

The Foundation is pleased to again support BlinkNow.  BlinkNow’s vision is a world where every child is safe, educated and loved. Their mission is to change the world by empowering Nepal’s children. The organization does so by providing quality education, a safe environment and through inspiring others.

Scholarships will be made for both boys and girl who have yet to be sponsored in the 2020 school year. Their students are the most vulnerable children in Nepal who otherwise would not have access to a quality education. Furthermore, the students’ enrollment impacts their entire family not only by having educated children, but families are also provided resources like medical care, educational workshops, and first priority access for mothers to be enrolled in the Kopila Valley Women’s Center. Their approach is community–based and holistic. The nucleus of the community impact is the school, with additional programs such as their Women’s Center, Girl’s Hostel, Health Clinic, Children’s Home and Futures which collaborate in a symbiotic relationship with the school. Scholarship support and student enrollment is the foundation to their larger community impact. By supporting a student at the school, the impact not only helps the student but also their family and community in Surhket. The teachers BlinkNow supports have had to do a quick pivot in helping their students adjust during the COVID-19 pandemic. The teachers have mobilized quickly to support their students, making multiple phone calls each week to every student to assess their health and safety. The teachers also began developing packets of learning materials to distribute weekly. Each teacher has been sent home a computer from KVS’s computer lab and been given a stipend to buy data packages if they did not already have access to WIFI. Because of this new posture they are operating in, teachers have grown their technology skills tremendously. BlinkNow has been closely monitoring teacher’s development and have created YouTube workshops to help teachers develop best practices with distance learning. Looking forward, Nepal has no plans of reopening schools and the country recently went back into lockdown. KVS will continue to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the community and the student’s they serve.

Fonkoze was founded in 1994 by a group of Haiti grassroots organizations that wanted to empower the rural poor in Haiti.

Since March of this year, Fonkoze’s clients have been confronted with the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic arrived in Haiti later most countries. The Haitian government took swift action to mitigate the spread of the virus, though necessary, has caused a severe impact on their economy. In the immediate near team, Fonkoze has worked to protect clients and staff, developing informational resources and materials, and also equipping them with essential supplies such as facemasks, hand sanitizer and hand washing stations. As Fonkoze looks to the future and ways their lending programs need to adapt, they have determined a digital platform is needed more than ever before. The Fonkoze Foundation, in partnership with Fonkoze Financial Services (SFF) will look to provide their client’s access to EdTek. EdTek will enable loan officers the ability to monitor the circulation of a shared tablet computer, provide technical support to users, and occasionally bring the tablet to a branch to upload data and access software updates for Fonkoze’s loan programs.

EdTek is currently being piloted in the Jacmel region and lessons learned will be used for implementation nationwide. The programs activities will include: 1. Training loan officers 2. Training Fonkoze clients on the Edtek Program 3. Conduct monitoring and evaluation activities 4. Provide technical support

Funds will be used  for clients in the rural areas of Mirebalais, the central plateau region of Haiti.

Asian University for Women (AUW) is an international liberal arts and sciences university in Chittagong, Bangladesh which seeks to cultivate the region’s next generation of women leaders.  AUW is unique in its mission to provide excellent higher education to particularly marginalized women, free of cost. At baseline, no university exists that specifically serves Asia’s regional need for an institution of high quality that is financially, culturally and logistically accessible to young women from poor, rural, and refugee populations.  AUW invites several targeted communities to join the University through its pre-university program, Pathways for Promise. These communities include: • Former garments workers from Bangladesh • Daughters of tea leaf pickers in India and Sri Lanka • Women from highly-trafficked regions of Nepal • Indigenous women from the Asian highlands • Women educated in the Madrasa system • Daughters of Grameen Bank and other microfinance borrowers. The most significant challenge to expanding access to higher education is cost. While primary school education can be provided with relatively few resources, much more significant support is required at the university level. Such costs necessitate an opportunity for women, in particular, to access university scholarships. In developing countries where women’s education is not a cultural priority, university fees can be an almost insurmountable barrier to entry, especially for poor families.

The Grant will be used  for the 2020-2021 academic year to fund the scholarships of new students in Pathways for Promise. This grant will cover tuition, room and board, health insurance, school supplies, and travel to and from the student’s home country. Quantifiable results indicating students’ progress in becoming educated and empowered leaders include: 1. Completion of Pathways for Promise. Achievement of a 3 or 4 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). 2. Completion of Access Academy a. Participation in Leadership Seminar. 3. Achievement of increasingly improved CGPA. 4. Enrolment in courses that encourage critical thinking, class participation, and analysis of global issues. 5. Participation in summer internships. 6. Participation in extracurricular activities.

Founded in 2014, the goal of MLP is to work towards equitable, sustainable healthcare across the globe. This includes but is not limited to education, medical and dental services, housing and clean water, all essential to good quality of life. Since its recent inception, MLP has been successful in partnering with other non-profits to provide education, services and construction in multiple countries including Ethiopia, Jordan, Puerto Rico and India.

The Appalachian region (205,000 square miles with 25 million residents) includes some of the poorest counties in the United States, with a median income 20% lower than the rest of the nation. Many areas are either rural or extremely isolated, which results in geographic health disparities for residents due to lack of transportation and greater financial concerns. Residents in some Appalachian communities in Virginia are 23% more likely to die from heart disease, 28% more likely to die from complications of diabetes, and 44% more likely to die from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, when compared to residents of the rest of the state. In many counties in rural Appalachia, lack of healthcare resources have been associated with the lack of specialty providers, and patients may experience several months wait for outpatient services. The grant  will provide assistance to residents of these communities by creating free clinics to bring healthcare services directly to their neighborhoods. Funds will be used to purchase a location, pay for medical supplies and other needed supplies and two forty foot shipping containers. Funds will be spent from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2022 and used specifically for underserved women and children in the Appalachian region of Southwest Virginia. With increased access to resources for reproductive health care, sex education and birth control, a significant difference will be made in preventing unplanned pregnancies.