Minutes of Asha Seattle meeting on 07/05/06 Venue : RTC LWSD No 414, Morton Johnson Room, Redmond, WA Attendees: Srijan, Swathi, Sundarshan, Sunil, Binay, Archana, Sharad, Kavita, Kavitha, Parna Project : Sanctuary - Presented by Sujit Sunil & Venkata Asha wide focus group focuses on children of sex workers and at risk children Update on conference in Calcutta Has been holding conferences to unite various organizations working on sex worker issues to discuss issues approaches etc. Suggestions : Asha projects should encourage co-ed education and encourage activities to bridge mental divide between different sexes. Loop sanctuary into projects which involves sex workers, gender sensitive etc. Take into account gender ratio not just in students but also among teachers, mgmt etc. Project : Ashirvaad - Presented by Sharad Shelter for homeless kids. 155 in total. Located in Bhopal. Provides education, vocational training, food, shelter, clothing etc. Have 2 centers with 7 full time social workers and 2 tutors. Send kids to 4 nearby schools (pvt). Majority funding (90%) from private donations from Germany. There is a lot of variance in money received every year. Also provide free classes in computers, sewing & carpentry. These classes are also open to nearby villagers. May leverage Vigyan Ashram for vocational training repatriation effort is made but not very successful. Center near Railway station is used to gradually customize some of the kids to get into the mainstream/different ways of life (for boys only). Is there any counseling facility provided? Expected expenditure next Rs 4,350,000. Rajiv Gandhi foundation grant for 5 years is ending this year Organization would like to increase the number of kids. It can increase the capacity to 200 with out much capital expenditure. They are looking for a recurring donation so that some level of variance can be controlled. Sharad is willing to be steward and donate a big chunk (around $10K). Support a child would be a good idea to be evaluated. We will need to identify project stewards apart from Sharad. Kavita volunteered to take this role. Project steward team should figure out the specific item/portion funding or generic funding. Allgorythms update - Presented by Kavita & Archana Pick between school auditorium in Mercer Island or Kane Hall. Going with Mercer Island on 14th and 15th October. Project : Sikshana - Presented by Vani and Parna Works with public education system to improve quality of education. Current status in Karnataka is bad based on a recent study. Teacher training, periodic school visits, total quality management used as method for each school that is adopted. Motivational incentives are used to involve students. Rs 20,000 per school. Mr. Ram Murthy is trying to expand this program. Evaluation of schools on a regular basis using Azim Premji foundation assessment method. Asha Boston and Asha Austin is also interested for funding and lobbying effort for this project respectively. One of the funding agency has pulled out so need immediate funding. Need $9000 is total requirement. $8000 proposed to Asha Seattle and $1000 is proposed to Asha Boston Auditing of the result (improvement) should be evaluated by project stewards. Could not finish this proposal in time and hence it will be presented for voting in next meeting.

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