The organization is hosting SHAKTI, a soiree in New York City on April 14th

NEW YORK CITY, NY (TIP): Uplift Humanity, founded in 2010, is a New York-based organization whose mission is to use disruptive and innovative curriculums to empower detained juveniles and orphans in India to achieve their full potential through education. The organization’s goal is to ensure that these children successfully assimilate back into society and have higher career prospects once released, ultimately reducing recidivism rates.

Uplift Humanity, which was founded by Anish Patel, who was 16 years-old at the time, has now launched four locations throughout India: Gujarat, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and the newest this year in Delhi. Over the past eight years, Uplift Humanity has contributed over 250,000 hours of volunteer work and brought over 500 Americans to volunteer in India. This month, the organization celebrates transforming the lives of over 1,000 students in India.

The organization delivers through three key programs:

The Summer Program: A yearly program in July whereby hundreds of American teenagers travel to India for an 18-day volunteer excursion. These students undergo a rigorous application process to volunteer in either of the organization’s programs in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Gujarat, and Delhi. The purpose of this program is to provide ostracized students in India with life and behavioral skills ranging from anger management to public speaking – taught by like-minded American teenagers.

The Academic Program: Perhaps the most crucial element of the on-site work done at the juvenile centers, this is a daily program where juveniles and orphans are taught English-speaking skills by local teachers.  This program is intended to equip students with the right skills they will need to secure employment once released. By providing these students with these core-skills, it reduces the probability that juveniles and orphans will resort to crime once released, thereby building safer communities.

The Health and Wellness Program: Launched this month, the health and wellness program is designed to empower kids to learn about themselves and explore their identities. Lessons range from hygiene to mental health and are delivered through hands-on activities and games. The objective of this program is to normalize educating youth about complex topics like mental disorders and puberty, enabling them to be more mature and understanding individuals.

These programs are all developed in-house by Uplift Humanity’s team, which is one of the youngest teams in the nonprofit space. In fact, the average age of an Uplift employee is 26. Because the team is so young, the organization heavily relies on creative grassroots fundraising to fuel its programs in India, instead of high-net-worth donors and corporations like most nonprofits.

“I think that we have one of the most amazing teams here at Uplift. Our team comes from such global and diverse backgrounds that it enables us to develop effective state-of-the art curriculums. In fact, just within 5 months of us implementing our Academic Program curriculum, we’re seeing results: students are now actually starting to speak English” says Founder & CEO Anish Patel

To celebrate the success of educating 1,000 students, Uplift Humanity is hosting SHAKTI, a soiree in New York City on April 14th. Uplift Humanity along with co-host Zee TV will have an evening of food, drinks and entertainment at Manhattan’s Distilled Lounge. Tickets can be purchased on: http://bit.ly/2D2J4QP

For more information on Uplift Humanity, please visit: www.uplifthumanityindia.org