BRIGHT MINDS
AFRICA

BRIGHT MINDS

Bright Minds Africa has its origins in 2015 when a Cameroonian woman named Yvette knocked on the door of a Peace Corps Volunteer in her community and asked if the volunteer ran a nonprofit for women. "No," Gina said, "but we can start one."

Yvette and Gina have been working together ever since. They founded Bright Minds in 2018 to support some of the most vulnerable children in Nasarawa State, a region just outside of Abuja plagued by terrorism, regional violence, and economic depression.

Education
Bright Minds locates children who are not in school, provides them with scholarships, and supports their education through home visits and one-on-one mentorship. We also offer job training scholarships for older children who prefer to learn a job skill. To date, we have 55 scholarship recipients and counting!

Library Development
Because the schools in Nasarawa State are vastly underfunded, most students go through their entire education without holding a book or learning how to read. Bright Minds is changing this by partnering with local educators to construct school libraries and train teachers to run them using activities to promote literacy. We have just completed our second library project.

Health
All our scholarship recipients receive health and nutrition counseling from Bright Minds' incredible Nigerian staff and volunteer team, who also create safe spaces within the community where teenage girls can learn reproductive health, something that is not taught in school. For students affected by HIV/AIDS who are struggling to receive consistent treatment and nourishment, we offer a sponsorship program in which we match sponsors with individual children.

Girls' Empowerment
Bright Minds' focus remains on girls, as girls are expected to marry at an early age and therefore their education is often undervalued by society. We empower young women to chart a path through high school and on to university.

All of our work is initiated and implemented by local West Africans, thereby stimulating the local economy. We work in a region other organizations don't go, reaching some of Nigeria's most vulnerable children. With the generous support of our donors like you, we are giving kids the boost they need to succeed in school and become the next generation of African and world leaders.

 


Here's the breakdown of
what your donation can do:

$32 enrolls a student in school for the first time. This is a one-time enrollment fee for primary school. After that, annual fees are nominal.

$84 provides lifesaving food for a malnourished child for one month. This is our new emergency intervention scholarship.

$266 supports our health classes, girls club, and mentorship programs for one month.

$3,500 builds a library in a school with no access to books or educational materials and trains librarians to keep it running.

If you are interested in sponsoring an individual child, please contact Gina directly at gmdettmer@gmail.com.

Join US!



Donations made in the US are handled by

Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
a qualified US 501(c)(3) public charity.

Learn more about
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation



One of the early scholarship recipients

 

Bright Minds Africa Website:
https://www.brightmindsafrica.org/

 

Donate to Bright Minds
Make checks payable to "Philanthropic Ventures Foundation "
and note on the "memo" line on the check - "Bright Minds "
Mail donations to:
Philanthropic Ventures Foundation
1222 Preservation Park Way
Oakland, CA 94612-1201
 
You can make a donation to Bright Minds
via the internet. Click here.



Note: there is a 3% transaction fee to cover credit card fees, bank fees, and other processing costs.

Donations in the US are tax deductible when made payable to "Philanthropic Ventures Foundation" - PVF is a qualified 5012(c)(3) charity. Canceled checks made payable to PVF are receipt of a qualified donation. Donations over $250 will also receive letter of confirmation from PVF. Donations made over the internet will receive a confirming receipt/email from Network for Good.

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