For Some Displaced Kids In Benue, This Makeshift School Is Their Only Chance At Education

Local college students are volunteering their time to teach children for free in nearby villages who can’t afford tuition at traditional schools. The project started in 2014 with just 30 students but has now grown to about 100 students attending the free classes held every evening.

Search and rescue teams in Utqiaġvik and North Slope Borough, Alaska, work together with the coast guard to run rescue operations that budgetary and training restrictions would not allow them to do alone.

In a community where economic barriers prevent children from getting an education, the Oakbridge Foundation provides free, quality primary school education for out of school children.

L’Heure Civique aims to make it easier and more flexible for French citizens to volunteer in an era where fewer and fewer people are regularly volunteering, requiring just an hour of service per month and offering up opportunities as they come rather than requiring long-term commitment. The organization is now active in about 250 communities with more than 24,000 volunteers.

The Tent to School Education Initiative mounts makeshift classrooms in communities where students would normally have to travel long distances to attend classes, leaving them vulnerable to potential safety concerns. In one nomadic settlement, volunteer teachers with the program have helped 70 percent of students improve their numeracy skills, while 65 percent have been able to build reading competencies.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the regional Veterans Affairs system around the Charles George VA Medical Center is sending out teams to provide services and supplies to more than 2,600 high-risk veterans living in isolated areas.

The Bagwai Youth Friendship Association is a community group that pools money together to support locals in need, whether it be paying school fees or providing start-up capital for a new business venture. Since 2019, the group has enrolled 35 children in school, repaired broken water pipes, renovated buildings and provided food to those in need.

The Graficka Street school uses flexible classroom design, dedicated assistants for children with special needs, participatory school culture, and proactive family outreach to create a more inclusive learning environment. Since inclusive education legislation was passed in 2016, the share of students with disabilities educated in mainstream schools has grown from 65% to 77%, with schools like the Graficka Street elementary school helping increase access.

Fueled by Kids provides food for students who rely on school lunches to ensure they have food to eat during the weekends. Fueled by Kids curates bags of food that are easy for the students to prepare themselves and offers them at more than 20 schools, serving more than 1,000 students.

The Transforming Lives and Communities Initiative converted an office space into a free library and resource center for local youth during the pandemic, providing them with internet access, books, games and other educational materials, including a Reading Clinic to teach local youth how to read. The Initiative continued and expanded from what started as a small venture with less than 10 participants, to over 1,000 registered users.