Blossom Hill Foundation Inc

Target demographics: marginalized children affected by conflict in the Middle East thrive.

Geographic areas served: our fellows across the globe

Programs: During 2017, blossom hill foundation provided grants to one organization for operations and eight programs implemented by 11 fellows:: young and disabled sports club (operating grant): this club provides opportunities for physical exercise to disabled children and youth. Our support expanded services to include programming for disabled refugee youth residing in turkey creating a borderless space for children and their families disabled children and youth between the ages 5 - 19 had access to physical and aquatic therapy. Children participated in soccer practice twice a week and/or aquatic therapy three times a week based on their abilities. Project lift - hold my hand: this program supports the increasing need of psychosocial services for refugee children living in turkey. The program uses art, music and dance modalities as a form of therapy to support refugee children and creates a safe environment for them to heal from the trauma of war. A total of 93 refugee children, ages 5-17 have attended her group sessions. Each child participates in 6-8 weekend sessions, divided by age and group dynamics. Each group has 8-12 children who participate in various music, art and dance modalities. Youth empowerment program: this program is designed to prepare refugee high school students for higher education in the united states. This program provides toefl and sat preparation, as well as one-on-one mentoring, to guide students who are impacted by conflict through the college application process. The program accepted 36 applicants (75 percent male, 25 percent female). Students are mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds with some knowledge of english. Students sat on sat exams and toefl. College applications were submitted on december 31 (about 10-12 colleges a student). Sima: this is a smartphone and tablet game designed to improve arabic literacy skills and provide psychosocial support for out-of-school refugee children in the middle east. Sima has been fully developed and ready for use. The app will be distributed in three ways: via mobile service operations (like turkcell) marketing specifically to parent phones through an sms campaign urging them to download the app (split into smaller easily downloadable content) for their children or phone manufactures who would pre-install the app on phones before they are purchased; social media outreach; and by partnering with ngos who have literacy programs such as save the children and unicef. Code to inspire: this is the first coding school for girls in afghanistan. The program offers young afghan women rigorous training in computer science with a curriculum focused on web development, mobile application development, gaming, graphics, and design. Code to inspire completed the construction and renovation of the second floor and purchased equipment for the school. A total of 62 applicants were accepted for the mobile app, full stack and unity classes. Students will receive a certificate from general assembly, one of the leading coding schools in the us. Two students are now getting paid, working with word press to redesign one website and improve customer checkout on another gemstone site. Students have developed three apps, including a literacy app in multiple languages, and one social impact game. Team up 2 teach: the program uses a co-creation model that brings together teachers from various refugee communities in europe volunteers, development professionals and experts in trauma to identify teaching and learning gaps and address them by developing a living digital guide available to all instructors on the field. The goal is to provide more effective teaching and to create a safe and supportive learning environment for the students so they can learn. The program has hosted seven co-creation sessions in various cities in three countries four in greece, two in bulgaria and one in serbia. A total of 110 teachers from 35 organizations attended the sessions. Co-creation sessions are four hours long with small groups of teachers who come from different camps and share their experience and collaborate on better practices. Ultimately, this will culminate in the creation of fifty go-to lessons in self-care, trauma informed teaching, the creation of an ecosystem for refugee camps, identification of stakeholders, how best to impact learning etc. As such, it will be the ultimate resource to teach in camps as it is based on input and voices from the field. Sisters 4 sisters: this is a hands-on personal development program for at-risk afghan girls and women. Sisters 4 sisters uses four program areas to foster personal growth: work and problem solving, physical wellbeing, psychosocial development, and mentoring. The program enrolled 18 girls, ages 14-15, who came from kabul scouts program, assisted housing programs, and/or who have lost parents or have parents in jail. The program meets three times a week for ninety minutes to two hours. Majal & roia academy: this program addresses digital deficits among refugee youth by providing comprehensive training in digital literacy and computer science. The program has enrolled 30 students (15 boys, 15 girls). In addition instructors and students are creating a freelance platform to upload their skills and connect with clients and international media who need help in graphic design and programming. They also will be launching a program, which supports crowd funding for local sustainable projects that prioritize livelihoods and food security (dairy farming, alternative cement, ict training). Entrepreneurship and english-language instruction: this program conducts classes in business entrepreneurship and english-language teaching methodology for young afghan women, ultimately aiding them in starting their own careers. Fifty girls, ages 16-22, are enrolled. Students are mostly from universities (95%) and high school students (5%). Classes are taught every other day. Total $190,000

program services, which are not allocated to grants.