Nihal Foundation, Established in 2007 as CSR Initiative of StudentSpace Inc., USA. Our CSR focuses on transforming the lives of children & youth, living in urban poverty, through better health and skill development. A global foundation supporting programs in the United States, India and Puerto Rico Fundamental emphasis on opportunities with the greatest potential to directly and measurably transform the lives of children & youth.
Based in Santa Fe, NM with satellite offices in Gurgaon & Mohali, India and San Juan, Puerto Rico
To inculcate values and ethics in children with a special focus on male youth to make a world the safer and prosperous place to live.
Nihal Foundation is the CSR wing of Nihal Software, India and StudentSpace USA working for the community development through mentoring, and skill development and counseling with special emphasis on young borderline at-risk males at the grassroots level in USA, Puerto Rico, Delhi NCR and Chandigarh.
Since 2007 the role of Nihal Foundation has been in strengthening and empowering these communities of youth to join the mainstream before it is too late and they get caught, permanently, in the never ending cycle of:
No skills – No Values - Unemployment – Anger – Alcohol – Drugs – Crime – Jail … and more Anger!
Vision:
To break the Anger Cycle and bridge the Dignity-gap by contributing to the creation of developed, Ethical, Educated and Dignified Communities.
Mission Statement:
To inculcate values and ethics in children with special focus on male youth to make a world a safer and prosperous place to live. "The moral values, ethical codes and laws that guide our choices in normal times are, if anything, even more important in the current, confusing and disoriented times.These values and ethics will help us navigate to a safer and brighter future! There is a huge skill gap between what is expected of graduates and the job requirements. Private education has failed a whole generation, miserably. The owner of the education business has got rich but the future of their graduates has been jettisoned. Hence our aim is to fill this skill gap and give them direction and purpose to at least 200 poor youth per center per year and make them employable. Whether it is a church or community center in Puerto Rico or USA or a Gurudwara in India – these centers are being used as partners providing a space where technical centers are developed to provide skill development and help in employment in the latest technologies.
Our Focus:
The Unemployed Youth with No Skills.
A private education system which creates bogus paper degrees and only raises expectations and students’ fee but not their standards!
One would have imagined that private education would have helped these youth – but no! These institutors have made it worse – awarding fake qualifications of BTECH/MBA with no or very little value. It is like providing a person with a vehicle to success without wheels or a steering wheel – where will these youth go? Now they are only armed with high expectations and no skills. And hence behind this lack of employment is a huge lack of marketable skills, ethics and values. Many of these disenchanted youth have a real degree but with bogus future.
Furthermore, there are many IT/Computer centers in the city but and again over commercialization has left the graduating trainee to be lacking in essential skills.
Nihal foundation has three focus areas and each has a project related to them.
1) Youth Opportunity Center (YOC)
2) Simbarashi Crèche
3) Sunshine Van
Youth Opportunity Center (YOC)
Nihal Foundation already sponsors skill development classes to the marginalized youth with a focus on the Sikh youth. Since 2012 youth from rural Punjab has been trained and employed via this Bridge Program. Nihal Foundation has found the YOC training centers more effective than simply giving scholarships which are often used to pay towards the rising fees of private education – and the graduating student still lacks skills and does not add value to their life or contribute to society.
The first YOC in India was started in Gurgaon. The Class room, trainers and infrastructure in Gurgaon are provided by Nihal Software and StudentSpace USA. Some of these trainees who have been skilled have already been put on a live projects from USA and are being paid a stipend of Rs. 10,000/month. Therefore, to take this successful model to the area which needs it most was proposed by the Delhi Chapter of the Nihal Foundation.
Currently, the YOCs have been set up and running successfully at the Nihal Software Gurgaon office and Patel Nagar Gurudwara, 14/8 west Patel Nagar, New Delhi. Other Gurudwaras in Delhi, Chandigarh and Punjab are approaching Nihal Foundation for a partnership. Our aim is to have 11 YOCs running by June 30th 2016. The main objective is to impact 500 unemployed youth in the first year. And in the next three years to impact 5000 youth positively by training and assisting them to get employment.
Besides technical skills, an emphasis is given to inculcating values and ethics so that the person trained is well rounded and has developed core values which can take them through life with respect and dignity.
Regular workshops will be conducted on these topics and including workshops on corporate culture, financial management and other relevant topics. Experts here and from the US will be conducting these workshops and seminars to encourage these youth to join the workforce with Values in the mind and Skills in their hands!
Simbarashi Crèche
Simbarashi Crèches runs day care centers where toddlers provided crèches with toys and are books at constructions sites for the children of the labor. In the initial phase we are targeting the construction sites where houses are being built in Gurgaon. These crèches allow labor to put their toddlers safely in the crèche while they can work without worry. Often the labourer's children fall into the cement leading to their death; these sweet 2 to 5 years old are the children of the hardworking mothers who are standing tall, with their babies on their back, with the men to construct houses, offices and malls for a new India. Ignoring their safety and well-being is a gross violation of human and children's rights and should not be tolerated any further. Under the Simbarashi Crèche project, we aim to provide a playpen and toys to these children.
Sunshine Van
Nihal Foundation has started “Children of Earth” Initiative on Earth day 22nd April 2015. According to National Health Survey, and WHO-UNICEF, 8-10 million children afflicted with severe acute malnutrition in India. Which is half of all the 20 million across world. We aim to help malnourished children of construction workers by providing the following:
· Chana /Moong Bank : We provide weekly ½ kg of Chana & Moong
· Clothes : Old /New
· Toys : Old/New
· Cakes : Twice in a month Polo Café provides Cakes to celebrate their Birthday.
We have a “Sunshine Vans” to collect stuff from donors and deliver them to the children.
Nihal Foundation has started the Sunshine-van initiative that delivers happiness by giving toys, gifts, stationary, clothes, books and food to poor children at construction sites, slums, and even on roadsides in your city.
We maintain database of children and Donors. Right now we are targeting to cover area between Sohna road and Golf course road and NH 8 and Golf course extension road. We call it Golden Quadrangle
.Children have our telephone number. They call us and ask for stuff they need. We are like their Flipkart delivering things to them. We are in process of giving Sunshine ID card to each kid, which will have our phone number.
Our Achievements so far – right in your neighbourhood
• We are currently working in 3 clusters in Golden Quadrangle:
Cluster 1: Sector 27, Gurgaon : 63 children
Cluster 2: Sector28, Gurgaon: 88 children
Cluster 3: Sector 43, Gurgaon: 26 children
• Created database of 177 children, we are issuing “Sunshine ID card” for each child with our phone number at the back so that they or their parents can call us directly for the items needed.
• Tied up with Govt. Hospitals to do their health checkups. Our Sunshine Van turnes into a
Mobile Health Checkup Center and with the help of Doctor and Asha and ANM workers ,We Organized a Health camp in 3 clusters. Children were checked for skin ,Eye ,Diarrhoea,Anaemia
Fever, Cold, Cough and given Iron, Calcium, ORS,Cough Syrup
Infants got Vaccination; Pregnant women also got their dosage of Calcium and Iron.
• Oyo room is keeping our Sunshine boxes in their Office.
Our Non-Profit And CSR Efforts
- StudentSpace foundation in USA offers its services to low-income families to reach students with the least access to educational resources and helps students of colour realize their potential through various partnerships in New Mexico and California.
- We have been providing free access to our sophisticated tools to underprivileged and fund-lacking schools so their children could be on a level playing field. Our tools include providing a safety net so kids are given a second chance in this highly competitive world.
