[8 Mar 2010 | No Comment | 124 views]
It’s International Women’s Day: Meet Noy!

She’s the Pencils of Promise Laos Country Coordinator, a fearless advocate of education and a devout lover of hip-hop. She is strong, defiant, and believes the future and progress of our world lies with the empowerment of women.

Read the full story »

The PoP Movement »

[22 Dec 2009 | 5 Comments | 3,528 views]
SIGN UP TO JOIN OUR FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN FOR $1,000,000

We’d like you to meet Jai. He’s four years old, and he loves him some drawing. And writing. And coloring.
Jai is one of our first students. But he’s about to become one of many. You’ve been asking “How can I help?” It’s simple. Join the movement we’re about to create.

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From the Field »

[11 Dec 2009 | No Comment | 498 views]
To good luck, good health

He looks down at the boiled chicken head in his hands. “Deal.”

From the Field, The PoP Movement »

[3 Dec 2009 | No Comment | 676 views]
Simple Acts of Dedication: The Eugene Chung case study

One night after leaving the Seeds of Learning facilities recently, I found myself peering over the edge of an active volcanic crater in Nicaragua, sharing gasps of awe with fellow travelers from every corner of the globe. We next ventured through the dark to explore a large cave, normally a place where you would feel as far removed from all familiarities as possible.
As we approached I heard two American accents, which led to a casual conversation with two fellow travelers who told me they worked in advertising. The conversation went …

From the Field »

[1 Dec 2009 | One Comment | 665 views]
Seeds of a New Partnership

For the past week I have been spending time in Dario, Nicaragua formalizing our first partnership in Latin America with an incredible organization called Seeds of Learning. We share a common approach to community development, which is grounded in the belief that each village must be deeply entrenched participants in the construction of their school, library or community center.
These structures we build neither “belong” to Seeds of Learning nor Pencils of Promise. They belong to the community; we are merely facilitators towards this end. Sustainability lies in local ownership, not …

Global Education, Social Good, The PoP Movement, Thoughts »

[24 Nov 2009 | No Comment | 373 views]
PoP at One Year

(From Adam, currently in Nicaragua working on our next partnership)
PoP was founded in October of 2008, with the simple ambition of finding a way to build just a single school. That was it. I was about to turn 25 years old, so I put $25 into a new PoP bank account and we were off. The goal was to throw two small fundraisers with my closest friends in NYC, and turn that multitude of small donations into a school for a community of tremendous need. So one year later, where …