Hope Center Uganda (HCU) provides youth in Uganda with education in literacy, arts, tech, health and more in rented spaces. This project builds us our own three-room building where we can conduct classes for the marginalized groups who make up the majority of HCU's existing 130 beneficiaries (namely girls, refugees, street children and LGBTQ youths) and allows us to expand our reach to impact more people. Help advance our mission of creating an innovative, educated community of problem-solvers!
The insurgency of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army stunted Gulu's development, leaving the poverty-stricken region with poor public education, high teacher-student ratios (46:1) and high drop-out rates (40% for girls, largely due to lack of reproductive health education.) HCU works to solve these problems, but without our own space, the cost of renting classrooms cuts into funds that would be more efficiently spent on education. We need a sustainable revenue model for long-term growth.
By providing Gulu's youth with innovative mindsets, vocational training and healthy habits, we are empowering future leaders to uplift themselves and their communities from poverty. This space will be used to continue HCU's existing tech, literacy, arts and public health programs as well as hosting other local youth organizations, encouraging an inclusive and open-minded community. The building will also include an internet cafe and artisan shop to cover the center's operating costs.
After construction of the center is completed, an additional 400+ youth per year will gain skills they will use for the rest of their lives and pass on to future generations, empowering their communities to break cycles of poverty and oppression. Programs will be self-sustaining thanks to revenue from the cafe/shop, with limitless potential to expand our reach in Gulu. The model is scalable, and can one day be replicated for impact across Uganda, Africa, and the world.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
