May 14, 2018
Dear Friends,
Following the success of our inaugural healthcare and education outreach events last October, we have been working hard on preparations for our 2018 outreaches. We have taken feedback from the communities we work with, our volunteers, and from you, our friends and very generous donors, and have been incorporating them into our planning for this year’s events.
As we did last year, we will have both healthcare and education outreaches. What’s different this year, though, is that we plan to hold our healthcare outreach in two communities – Omu-Aran (as we did last year) and Oro. This is in line with our objective of working with communities all over Nigeria and globally. On the education front, we will add a new class of SS1 (10th Grade) Scholars to our roster of 18 from last year. These Scholars will receive tuition and fee scholarships for their last three years of secondary school, along with mentoring, career counseling and other assistance.
Additionally, we are very excited to introduce two new events that we will be debuting this year for our students – (i) a three-day Coding Camp for at least 60 students; and (ii) a Youth Development Program providing entrepreneurship coaching and including a business plan and pitch competition.
Coding Camp
We are working hard on developing a curriculum introducing these exceptional students to computer programming and computer science, and suited to the unique needs of the communities we work in. We are currently in discussions with an established technology education provider to partner with us on this new venture. Our plan is to pilot this Coding Camp this year, then work with our partners to scale the program beyond the communities we currently work in. We truly believe that, regardless of what professions or disciplines these students end up pursuing, acquiring coding skills will make them better thinkers and problem solvers.
To make this Coding Camp a reality, we will need at least 30 computers. We have started acquiring computers (including some that we have had to refurbish) but we are still a long way from our target. Our plan is to donate any computers used for the Camp to our seven partner schools, to help kick off a virtual library pilot program, so the students can keep honing their coding skills after the Camp. We also need to raise funds to support our Scholars Program and to facilitate our continued engagement with our partner schools.
Youth Development Program
We are working with our volunteer facilitators to develop a small business clinic culminating in a business plan and pitch competition. We want to help our youths develop their entrepreneurial instincts and get them to start thinking up innovative and creative solutions to problems in their communities. Winners will receive cash prizes and help refining their business plans.
We are very proud to introduce these new programs and can’t wait to give you all feedback about our experiences when it’s over!
For the medical outreach, we need to buy enough supplies for the 3,000 people we expect to see at our two locations and make sure that our vision center is well equipped this year, given how high the demand was last year for vision services.
We hope you will support us by volunteering and/or making a donation. We couldn’t do what we do without your generous support.
To learn more about our programs and our organization, please visit our website (www.cbdpartners.org) and sign up for our newsletter. You may also make donations through our website at any time.
Thank you for your support.
Babatunde Abidoye Akin Adekeye
Director and Co-Founder Director and Co-Founder
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