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July Newsletter
By Foundation Staff, July 27, 2010
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Opening Doors, Opening
Minds
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Turkmenistan
Youth and Civic Values Foundation E-News
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In This
Issue
Com. Develop
Spotlight
Turkmen College
Guide
Development
Group
Job
Notifications
Upcoming
Events
By The
Numbers
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Job
Notifications
Volunteer
Positions
(4-5
hours/month)
Turkmen Advisory
Council Liaison-
The
Liaison assists a group of seven professional Turkmen to provide
consulting on how development money can better serve the Turkmen
people. Strong preference for management consulting experience.
E-mail tac@tycvf.org
Communications
Consultant Volunteer-
The Volunteer will help
develop messaging, written materials and media to help support the
foundation programs, TYCVF Development Group and the Executive
Director. Strong writing and communications experience preferred.
Interested in finding out more email Director of Communications,
Chris Schirm at cschirm@tycvf.org
Board of Advisors
Liaison-
This dedicated volunteer will
be responsible in finding high-visibility individuals to be
informal advisors to the Foundation, works with those we have
currently, maintains a relationship with those individuals, and
brainstorms ways that Advisors can assist the Foundation in
fulfilling its mission. If you or someone you know may be
interested please contact Kenyon Weaver at kweaver@tycvf.org
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Upcoming
Events
Open Executive
Committee Meeting,
Tuesday, August 10th
at 8:30 p.m. EDT.
All are welcome, please RSVP
with an e-mail to Kenyon Weaver at kweaver@tycvf.org
to join
online!
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By the
numbers
With the new version of the
TYCVF Newsletter we also wanted to give all of you dedicated
readers a better idea of exactly how you are making a difference
each month.
Number of
constant TYCVF Volunteers:
35
Number of TOEFL and SAT books distributed in
Turkmen Mentors Program: 34
Number
of Mentors working with Turkmen: 17
Number of Turkmen served by
Community Development projects in first half of 2010:
Number of TYCVF Facebook
friends:
The cost of tuition for a
King-Spingarn Scholar at American University of
Bulgaria:
If there is a
number that you would like to see on next month's issue, let us
know at
cschirm@tycvf.org
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Contact
Info
Turkmenistan
Youth and Civic Values Foundation
316 5th St
#3
Brooklyn, New York 11215
202-406-0077
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Community
Development Spotlight
The
Community Development Program has had a busy and extremely
productive first half of 2010. Led By Program Managers Casey
Farrar and Luisa Angelsmith, the Community Development Group has
overseen multiple small assistance grants and is in the process of
reviewing 15 other grants for funds. Here are just four examples of
the great projects that the Foundation has helped fund this
year.
Life is a
Theater
"All of life is a stage/And
all the men and women merely players," Shakespeare's quote could
have been the inspiration for Lachyn I. in Turkmenabat. With the
help of a grant from the Foundation, she created the "Life is a
Theater" program. The project aimed to instill self-confidence,
improve English language and public speaking skills, and promote
volunteerism amongst high schoolers by creating a traveling acting
troupe.
Lachyn
and cast designed their own scenery and costumes.
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Out of the 50 teenagers that auditioned, 17
participants (nine boys and eight girls) were selected to perform
in a production of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". She
organized daily rehearsals and public speaking classes for the
selected cast of actors. They also worked together to make their
own playbills and costumes.
The cast performed at the
American Corner in Turkmenabat and then traveled to Ashgabat to
perform at the Turkish Center. All of the proceeds of the
Ashgabat performance were used to purchase gifts for an orphanage
in Turkmenabat. Due to the massive popularity of the program, an
encore performance will be held in late July at the American Corner
in
Turkemenabat.
The
Seven Dwarfs at the first performance in Turkmenabat
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The success of Lachyn's
project can be measured in more than applause. Since their first
two performances, the participants continue to meet regularly and
have reached out to other youth by facilitating their own clubs.
They are also planning their own community service
projects. Lachyn has inspired these young bright minds to reach
their goals and make a difference within their own
community!
Do Not Be
Lost
Orphanage House #2 in Mary
City had a day like no other, and it is thanks to Bahar N., her
team of young Turkmen, and the Foundation's support. Bahar, Nazar
A., Roza O., and Merjen S. together led a day-long camp for the
orphans that was both fun and educational. This was the thought
that drove Bahar N. to create her "Do Not Be Lost" project in
Mary.
"Basically we as [FLEX] Alumni
wanted to inspire them that there is bright and sunny future,"
said Bahar. "We wanted them to know that they only need to take
action to achieve their dreams." (For our readers out there, FLEX
stands for Future Leaders Exchange, and it is a program funded by
the U.S. State Department that brings over hundreds of teenagers
from the former Soviet Union for a year at a U.S. high
school.) Bahar led a day-long camp for the orphans that was both
fun and educational.
Bahar (in purple) with
volunteers, teachers, and orphans at her one day camp in
Yoloten
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However, almost all of this
work came to naught. Originally planned as a larger gathering at
a local school, Bahar's permission to hold the event was suddenly
and mysteriously cancelled by local government at the last moment.
She contacted the Foundation immediately and then explained that
she had a backup plan. In the end, 20 students from
an orphanage in Yoloten were educated in critical skills like
leadership, community service and English language. When asked
about what was the benefit of the camp Bahar noted, "I believe
those students who previously were without hope for [the] future,
received enough information to brighten their future and daily
life."
Community
Development Capacity Building
Madina's "Community
Development Capacity Building" project had the goal of developing
prospective grant writers. She made two-hour presentations
in every region of Turkmenistan. Madina started each presentation
with ice breakers, then an opening session about the goals of TYCVF
and Community Development grants in particular, followed by a
PowerPoint presentation with slides on models and examples of
successful projects. At the closing of the day there was a
discussion among attendees, where they shared ideas on possible
projects, discussed budget and implementation plans, and filled out
sample grant applications."
"Project management is a skill
like any other, and refining that skill takes time, effort, and
experience,"said Madina "In short, it takes capacity." Above
all, Madina knew that concrete examples were essential. "We showed
video clips with pictures taken during projects supported by the
Foundation. The audience used these examples and became even
more motivated on realizing their own
ideas."
Madina inspires youth leaders
to create their own projects and apply for TYCVF
grants
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Like the leader of every
Foundation supported community development project, Madina made no
money from her project and also assumed the risk that her project
will be seen in a poor light by government authorities. In the
case of this most recent project she persevered because,"I'd like to hear that one of the project
participants became good Project Leaders and implemented successful
projects," she said. "I hope that my presentation would play a big
role in their beginnings."
Madina also followed up with the participants and offered help for
all those interested in writing proposals.
From Brothers to
Sisters
When
organizer Rozalina A. created the Brothers to Sisters grant in
Mary she invisioned a transformational class that would give her
students the oppurtunity to create and realize their dreams. The
18-week long project offered about 30 hours of thematic English
classes to 18 middle school students ages 10-13. The class met for
two hours weekly, during which time students wrote three essays,
analyzed two movies and read three books, along with studying
vocabulary and grammar structure. The project also included two
field trips -- to a local amusement park and a local museum.
"After finishing the project, I have
already had some commentaries from the parents that two boys are
seriously thinking about majoring as an interpreter, one wants to
be a pilot and learn languages," said Rozalina. She went on to say
"The children are now studying hard in school and already
implementing what they learned throgh the project.
My hope is that when applying
to universities and colleges in the future, the participants will
be able to point to this class as their own turning
point."
Community demand for the project was so high that Rozalina ended up
accepting more students than she'd included in her original
proposal.
Please help us continue
funding these great programs by making a donation to
TYCVF here If you
are interested in finding out more about the Community Development
Group, or volunteering or wondering about available grants contact
Program Manager Luisa Angelsmith at communitv@tycvf.org
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Development News
Eight Foundation volunteers
convened on Tuesday, July 20th to kick off the Foundation's
reinvigorated Development Group. Led by Sari Long, one of founders
of the Foundation and currently the Director of Development, the
eight volunteers of the DG will be exploring every path of
institutional and corporate giving and consider new ways to
leverage sources of small individual giving towards great
effect.
The volunteers will work with
the members of the Foundation's terrific new Board of Directors and
help tune the Foundation's message. The Foundation relies largely
on individual giving and one institutional donor, but our expanded
programming, tremendous opportunities and needs of the Turkmen
people call for new sources of support. The DG answers that call.
To help Sari or find out more, e-mail her at slong@tycvf.org
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| Turkmen Helping
Turkmen...Get Into
College
Seven outstanding Turkmen
students are at the helm of the Third Edition of the Turkmen
College Guide, due out this August. Another fifteen Turkmen
students have shared their stories of overcoming challenges to be
put into the Guide. It's another great example of Turkmen helping
Turkmen, and of how the Foundation works to bringing together
bright, inspiring Turkmen youth who seek opportunities for
community service.
The latest edition of the
Turkmen College Guide will be a slim volume that is half advice and
half information about how to plan to get into, attend, pay for,
and finish a college in the United States. Speecifically tailored
to Turkmen stuents, the Guide is a supplement to - not a
replacement for - the large books like Barron's or Princeton
Review, filled with thousands of college profiles. And it will be
available and distributed freeof charge.
What makes the Guide truly
special, however, is that it is written and organized by
Turkmen. There are now scores, if not hundreds of Turkmen
students in the U.S. and Europe who have solved the puzzle of getting
into and paying for a U.S. college. These same students are now
helping to develop the Guide, sending in their stories of how they
did it, and drafting the text on how to think about community
colleges (consider them!) and on late-deadline colleges. Scattered
from San Francisco to Bishkek and half a dozen places in between,
these students are helping those who were just like them back in
Turkmenistan.
With
help from the non-profit organization EducationUSA,
the Guide will contain a list of only those U.S.
colleges that provide substantial international financial aid,
along with their average TOEFL and SAT scores and general applicant
competitiveness. This way, a Turkmen student who has mastered
English, studied hard, and taken the necessary tests can match her
or his scores with those of the U.S. colleges which will support
him or her financially, and then apply.
Look for
an announcement in August as the Guide is rolled out, and it will
be available at our website, www.tycvf.org!
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