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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGrant Request - Kashmir Family Aid - Redmond SchoolsEconomic Development Fund Discretionary Grant Program Organization: Kashmir Family Aid Organization Description: This organization, established in response to the 2005 earthquake, assists children in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir who were displaced by the earthquake. The primary goal is to counter poverty in the region by providing secular education to quake -affected children. Since its inception, the program has partially supported 6 private schools and about 1,200 students. Funds have also been provided to destitute and widowed women. Project Name: Project Pakistan Project Description: These funds will be used to purchase 8 computers for Project Pakistan. This program is an exchange between students at Redmond schools and Nilore Model School located in Nilore, Pakistan. The program is being coordinated with the Redmond School District in three fifth grade classes. Redmond students will learn about Nilore and Pakistan while Pakistani students will learn about Oregon and the United States. Then the classes will begin correspondence, first as a group and eventually on an individual basis. Meanwhile, fundraising will be undertaken to purchase computers and chairs for the Pakistani students. This project is intended to teach Redmond students about a completely different culture through direct interaction. Project Period: November 17, 2008 — June 1, 2009 Amount of Request: $2,500 Previous Grants: None .00./7 21/ or Deschutes County Board of Commissioners 1300 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97701-1960 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org DESCHUTES COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FUND DISCRETIONARY GRANT PROGRAM APPLICATION Direct Application to: Commissioner Tammy Baney Commissioner Dennis R. Luke Date: Project Name: Project Beginning Date: Amount of Request: Commissioner Michael M. Daly All Three Commissioners /'/,c / Stoit Nov. I , 2u0 $' 145-00 Applicant/Organization: Project End Date: Date Funds Needed: Tax ID #• /6rb f�,.; r ,4 ;J Address: /Y/ N.l.(f . free taw.,/ 4-✓t•� 54wc 21-0 Contact Name(s): Fax: CliilfiyLf ,C. s'/+c IS 75 - Alternate Phone: City & Zip: Telephone: Email: .11&44.. /I 2007 Nov. LYS 2.uor y2-/! pos9r' &&i 7770/ 385- ( ?0 CAltir 41/..4.a On a separate sheet, please briefly answer the following questions: 1. Describe the applicant organization, including its purpose, leadership structure, and activities. 2. Describe the proposed project or activity. 3. Provide a timeline for completing the proposed project or activity. 4. Explain how the proposed project or activity will impact the community's economic health. 5. Identify the specific communities or groups that will benefit. 6. Itemize anticipated expenditures*. Describe how grant funds will be used and include the source and amounts of matching funds or in-kind contributions, if any. If the grant will support an ongoing activity, explain how it will be funded in the future. Attach: Proof of the applicant organization's non-profit status. • Applicant may be contacted during the review process and asked to provide a complete line item budget. Amount Approved: By: Date: Declined: By: Date: 4 u is g 0 7 g a ,0ao C bA r. w Our Priorities How We Operate We fund secular schools. We view education as a U N • O a cti 0 O w 0 U 0 d cet w 0 N cticticct O LL 0 O is about $200,000, Islamic fundamentalist Madrassa schools. assistance as needed in special situations. 0 a) cau 00 C7 c a� ca U -c 0Q A 0 0 04 • Our Projects 0 0 0 E 0 0 a N N a" c O on 0 0 O 00 S C r. o r • Q • y o' r: "o g 7,5 y • E cct O Y O U O c N homeless and de - N 04 We will even take interested donors to Paki- stan and Kashmir to meet the children and b ctl • 0) 00) L. E • 0 U. • .0 0 y O 0 as a. O • > a Y 3 0 IS 3 U O co 3 E E 0 O U y teachers—and see the schools for themselves. To donate now, go to kashmirfamily.org. "0 Q • .b 03• 0 C.) 03 N N 03 03 04 . cnH • °o. O >, N • O Y .E 0 -0 • 0 (-) y 0 Is N "0 0) o ocravi 3 . o o a 0 °' 00 affected surviving children. No politics. No religion. •b Q cct • •3 0 0 N 0 0 y Q U N • 0 • 0 0 00i y N 0 0 1 Madrassa schools. 7,0 0 • • "0 03 CU.) U 0 170 G) .10 C.) E tu0 earned in manual labor. 1. L L uc p Mf c` es L V i 12 c § E„ y"s L c11$ O LL Q {L a b4 2 "O • 1 .p Y O 0 • •( N b >' O On • E• ❑ a.)o N �+ 3 >, z � Oct. 17, 2008 Commissioners Mike Daly, Dennis Luke and Tammy Melton Deschutes County Administration 1300 N.W. Wall St., Suite 200 Bend, OR 97701-1960 Dear Commissioners, Greetings! This is Christopher Stollar with Kashmir Family Aid, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Bend. Who We Are Founded by longtime Bend resident Sam Carpenter, KFA assists children in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir who were displaced by the 2005 earthquake. The quake killed at least 73,000, left 3 million homeless and destroyed thousands of schools. Our primary goal is to counter poverty in the region by providing secular education to quake -affected children. No politics. No religion. Since our inception in 2005, we have partially supported six private schools and about 1,200 students. We have also provided cash to dozens of widows and destitute women. Our Project We are requesting $2,500 to purchase eight computers for Project Pakistan, an e-mail exchange program between the Redmond School District and the Nilore Model School in Nilore, an extremely illiterate and impoverished village outside Islamabad, Pakistan's capital city. Most kids in the area don't know how to read, and about 98 percent of mothers are illiterate. While some parents send their children to local government schools, they have a high dropout rate. These students currently have no means of learning how to use a computer — an essential skill now for any Pakistani who wants to leave the impoverished rural areas and get a living -wage job. Right now, female literacy in Kashmir villages is just 3 percent. More than 70 percent of females in Pakistan can't read at all, let along use a computer. If these students can get computers, they will be able to e-mail children from Redmond schools. Much of the foundation for this has already been set up through the Redmond School District, which just hired Nathan Munoz to connect students with local nonprofits. Mr. Munoz is working with us right now to set up the e-mail exchange program between three fifth grade classes and the Pakistani students. We are also working on a similar project with Susie Lucas from Highland Magnet School in Bend. Below is an overview of our project, which is a partnership between Kashmir Family Aid, the Redmond School District, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Oregon and the Nilore Model School in Pakistan. In addition, we also just received support from the City of Bend, which has agreed to move forward on a sister city relationship in Pakistan. The councilors have not formally voted, but they unanimously agreed at their Oct. 13 work session to proceed with this partnership — especially in light of the e-mail exchange program. "Project Pakistan will connect Redmond students with Pakistani children through a modern-day pen -pal program. Redmond boys and girls will start by learning about a completely different culture literally on the other end of the world that has almost no Western influence and a female literacy rate of just 3 percent in some villages. Then, they will engage those children through e-mails, Web cameras and hand-written letters. The goal is to encourage Redmond students to think outside themselves by leading a tangible project. Project Pakistan will give your child:en a sense of pride and ownership, help them learn about world events in a hands -:,n way, teach them how to communicate clearly and simply with a foreign culture 12 time zones away, and provide them with practical computer skills. They will never be the same." Specifically, we will have between 20 and 25 fifth -grade children (ages 9 to 11) interacting with an equal number of Pakistani students. There will be different phases to this project, but here is a general timeline: ❖ The Pakistani students start by learning about Oregon and the United States, while Redmond children learn about Nilore and Pakistan, including their customs, food, religion and culture. ❖ The Pakistani students, as a group, send one e-mail to the Redmond children, as a group, introducing themselves and asking whatever they want. Redmond, as a group, will respond with one e-mail. ❖ Both groups do the same with a hand-written letter. ❖ Meanwhile, the Redmond School District will hold several fundraisers to buy the Pakistani students computers and chairs. Eventually, the goal is to pair each one of our Redmond students with one of their students, and they will e-mail back and forth using a list of questions that we all come up with together. Mrs. Lucas from Bend -La Pine Schools already held a fundraiser in 2006 that raised about $3,000. The Benefits Many of the Redmond students Munoz works with have low test scores and come from broken, low-income families. He sees Project Pakistan as a way of boosting these children's self-esteem by giving them a charitable task to strive for that encourages them to think outside themselves and focus on other students' problems. Once that and additional mentoring happens, Munoz believes these Redmond students' test scores will begin to improve. In addition, this project will: ❖ Give Redmond students a sense of pride and ownership with a project ❖ Teach children how to think outside themselves ❖ Encourage students to take the initiative and learn to supervise a project ❖ Help children learn about and research world events Teach students how to communicate clearly and simply with a completely different culture on the other end of the world that has almost no Western influence ❖ Help children learn how to use Microsoft Office programs, e-mail, Web cameras and other technology ❖ Teach students some basic phrases of Urdu, Pakistan's native language This project will also benefit Pakistani students. Redmond children will get to engage with a Third World country that has almost no Western influence. In addition, we have spoken in-person with several other Pakistani teachers, who specifically said that they want their students to learn how to e-mail and interact with Oregon children. One of the teachers, Nadia, says her students have never met a Westerner — let alone an American. Often, Pakistani children have only one option to the private secular schools we support — an Islamic fundamentalist Madrassa school. Some Madrassa schools teach militant jihad to young children who will ultimately take paid jobs as jihadists once they become teenagers. This is attractive to many of these impoverished children who lack skills: Jobs are scarce and jihadist "jobs" pay four to six times as much as what can be earned in manual labor. Not many westerners understand that jihadists are literally holding highly paid jobs. While setting up this e-mail exchange program will not pour money into Deschutes County's economy, it will encourage a cultural exchange of ideas and values that is essential to educating our children in Bend about the larger world around them. The Budget, Details and Timeline Our anticipated expenditure is simply $2,500. Eight basic computers cost $3,000, and Munoz plans to have his classes raise the extra $500. In addition, the Redmond students also plan to raise $1,200 that pays for a teacher's salary for an entire year. The Pakistani school will cover additional computer maintenance, software upgrades and Internet card usage. This is a one-time donation; no continuing funds are necessary. Upon receipt of the county's donation, we will immediately contact Mubarik Ahmad, our trusted contact in Nilore who is Western -educated and speaks fluent English. He will make sure the county's money goes toward these eight specific computers within one month of receiving the grant. We anticipate the e-mail program to start up no later than six weeks after your donation. We have bullet-proof methodologies for making sure the money you donate is spent exactly how we promised. We always allow donors to follow their money and see how it is spent. We will post photos online of the students using these computers and, if interested, even take donors to Pakistan to meet the children and teachers—and see the schools for themselves. Sam has been to Pakistan six times now. Thank you for considering our request. For more information, go to www.kashmirfamily.org. You may also contact Kashmir Family Aid Director Christopher Stollar at 541-385-1970 or chriss(a,kashmirfamily.org. Please let us know what the next step is, and we will follow up with a phone call. Sincerely, Christopher Stollar Nathan Munoz – "Project Pakistan will encourage Central Oregon residents to think beyond their own lives filled with lattes, movies and other material comforts. It will help locals remember that suffering exists in this world – and that we can do something about it, that we can be the change." Mubarik Ahmad "Project Pakistan is a brilliant idea. When I broke the news to our students and teachers, they were thrilled ... Almost all students at Nilore haven't had a chance to see a Westerner in person, let alone interacting with him or her. Such isolation breeds fear and suspicion of others culture, values and beliefs. Project Pakistan will change that paradigm. It coincides with our objectives of training the students to grow up as global citizens responsible for the well being of others and the survival of the planet." - Search for Charities, Online Version of Publication 78 Search Results I 1 )Jitf.p Search for Charities, Online Version of Publication 78 Search Results 0 Organization l Name Starts With Kashmir Family Aid 0 At east one of the words All of the words 0 Location City Bend 0 Deductibility Code Deductibility Code All... Search State OR Country USA Begin New Search Search Tips Nat _en A. Kashmir Family Aid Show 25 v* 4A4 cft. State Bend OR OK Prev 11-1 Next » Country Code USA « Prev 1 1-1 1 Next a Page 1 of 1 hffiv //WWW anviarirdroth-752/cpsarPlIFTrilYfRpcultc rirOnam Pq parish TI7 T1P tartc--.1-mpkinarr, 1n/17ono9 governing document BYLAWS OF KASHMIR FAMILY AID, INC. A Nonprofit Corporation RECEIVED OCT 12 2007 DEpp MENT OF JUSTIC LAND LEGAL ARTICLE 1. Name and Purpose The name of the Corporation is KASHMIR FAMILY AID, INC., (hereafter referred to as "Corporation") and it is organized for the primary purpose of assisting children within the Ajad Kashmir and Pakistan's Northern Frontier Province. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Corporation shall not undertake any acts or otherwise carry out its business so as to disqualify it from non-profit status as conferred by the State of Oregon, nor shall it act or carry out its affairs in such a manner that the Corporation would not qualify for recognition of exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3). The Corporation shall at all times direct its activities towards assisting children within the Ajad Kashmir and Pakistan's Northern Frontier Province and not toward the promotion of, or performance of sponsors or individuals, nor shall it regularly engage in business activities ordinarily conducted for profit. The Corporation shall not permit any net earnings to inure to the benefit of any board member or individual, nor shall it, directly or indirectly, take any part in, or lend its influence or facilities to, the nomination, election or appointment of any candidate for national, state or local elective office. ARTICLE II. Membership Members of the Board of Directors are the sole membership of the Corporation. ARTICLE III. Board of Directors Section 1. Membership. The affairs of the Corporation shall be managed by a Board of Directors, the membership of which shall consist of not fewer than three nor more than seven individuals who shall serve without monetary compensation for their Board service. Any compensation to the Directors or Officers outside of their board duties requires prior approval by the Board of Directors. A. Election of Directors. The members of the Board shall elect new members as needed by a majority vote of the full Board at any regularly -scheduled meeting. Page 1 - BYLAWS of KASHMIR FAMILY AID, INC. :'Form CT -1 2 For Oregon Corporations and Certain Trusts Charitable Activities Sectt,'11 Oregon Department of Justice 1515 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 410 Portland, OR 97201-5451 E -Mail: charitable.activtties(Odoj.state.or.us Web site: http://www.doj.state.or.us VOICE (971) 673-1880 TDD (503) 378-5938 FAX (971) 573-1882 For Accounting Periods Beginning in: 2006' Section 1 1. General Information Kashmir Family Aid, Inc. Sam Carpenter 20430 Timberline Ct Bend, OR 97702 Registration# 3711 Phone: (541) 385-1970 Fax: (541) 385-5534 Period Beginning: Cross Through Inco (See Instructions for cha e f Registration #: tion Name: y, State, Zip: Phone: ti pe ) MAR 0 5 2006 DEPARTMENT TLAND LEGAL JUSTICE POR Fax: Amended Report? Period Beginning: O/ / d / / o1d-8?Period Ending: OA/ 3 / / 0-E1 2. Dld a certified public accountant audit your financial records? - If yes, attach a copy of the auditor's report, financial statements, accompanying notes and any schedules presented as supplementary information to the basic financial statements, 3. Is the organization a party to a contract involving person-to-person, advertising, vending machine or telephone fund-raising In Oregon? If yes, write the name of the fund-raising firm(s) who conducts the campaign(s): 4. Has the organization or any officer, director, or executive personnel of the organization ever been Involved in a voluntary agreement with any district attomey or attorney general or a legal action In any court regarding the organization's solicitation, administration, or management practices? If yes, attach copies of the agreement and a written explanation. 5. During this reporting period, did the organization amend Its articles of incorporation, bylaws, or trust documents, OR did the organization receive a determination letter from the Internal Revenue Service Indicating a new or amended tax-exempt status? if yes, attach a copy of the amended document or letter. 6. Is the organization ceasing operations and Is this the final report? (If yes, see instructions.) 7. Provide contact information for the person responsible for retaining the organization's records. ❑ Yes E' No ❑ Yes ❑: i -no ❑ Yes ��lo FA -9,45 E No ❑ Yes ❑ No 8. List of Officers, Directors, Trustees and Key Employees — List each person who held one of these positions at any time during the year even if they did not receive any compensation from the organization. Attach additional sheets If necessary. if an IRS form is attached that includes substantially the same Information, the phrase "See IRS Form" may be entered In Ileu of completing this section. (Oregon law requires a minimum of three directors.) (A) Name, daytime phone number & mailing address Name Position Phone (E) Expense account & other allowances Mailing Address ' /Ua y. vAi s'�r-38-83 3 syr ruin ,.d a 4 '77 / 8. List of Officers, Directors, Trustees and Key Employees — List each person who held one of these positions at any time during the year even if they did not receive any compensation from the organization. Attach additional sheets If necessary. if an IRS form is attached that includes substantially the same Information, the phrase "See IRS Form" may be entered In Ileu of completing this section. (Oregon law requires a minimum of three directors.) (A) Name, daytime phone number & mailing address (S) Title & average weekly hours devoted to position (C) Compensation (If not paid, enter $0) (D) Contributions to benefit plans & deferred compensation (E) Expense account & other allowances Name: Address: Phone:3-838 tSit., .itt. /' 4„ .. q Z7 4a ) Name: Address: Phone: Name: Address: • Phone: i l Form Continued on Reverse Side