Pudhiyadhor Charitable Trust

Pudiyador is an education-driven child and family organization that works with disadvantaged communities in Chennai, India. What started as an after-s Read morechool program in 2004 has now grown to serve over 180 children and their families in four highly packed residential areas with incomplete infrastructure, also known as ‘slum’ communities in the Besant Nagar and the Ramapuram neighbourhoods.  Children raised in poverty do not have the same opportunities as others. Poverty is highly correlated to domestic violence, poor emotional and physical health, exposure to crime, hostile societal treatment, and a threat to personal safety. While education is considered to be the greatest equalizer, there is a clear need to go beyond the classroom to help children overcome such powerful and negative forces. Our goal at Pudiyador is to equip children with experiences and opportunities that will empower them and their communities to break the cycle of generational poverty.  Our children come from gene-rationally oppressed and uneducated families. Historically unable to break cycles of poverty, children in our communities have followed the path of their parents to economic drudgery. However, we believe that this must change. To help our children catch up and excel beyond the restraints of their community, our primary focus is to provide high quality basic education with an emphasis on hands-on learning. Our programming is contextual and age appropriate. We challenge our children to think beyond societal norms and dream big. Programs like our life skills workshops for the Early Teens Program allow for our teenagers to focus their passions, gain skills and find mentors to later compete for employment opportunities. Equally, regular interactions with parents through parent-teacher meetings and home visits, allow for our Ground Team to identify and support high-risk children and their families. We strive to minimize abuse and its destructive effects on children and their futures. To accomplish this, we provide support from cradle to college. Pudiyador currently functions under five vertical heads which are as follows:  Cradle Health Program Children’s Program Early Teen’s Program Youth Advancement Program Women’s Empowerment and Community Development Program Our organization continues to learn and grow. We have not always had success in communities and most recently we had to close a centre. Community engagement is an on-going struggle and often communities will support one or two programs, and not all five of our vertical heads. Nevertheless, we continue to persevere and look for alternative options to move forward with our initiative because we believe that change is infectious. In providing early, consistent and holistic educational support, along with daily nutrition and a safe space, we believe that we have the capacity to transform communities and societies one child at a time.