BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Each month, “WBZ Cares” highlights a worthy non-profit organization and tells the story of what that organization does for the community. This month WBZ is profiling School the World,a non-profit organization committed to solving extreme poverty through the power of education.
School the World is a nonprofit organization based in Boston committed to solving extreme poverty through the power of Education. Founder Kate Curran has been building schools in Central America over the last 10 years.
“I've actually seen entire communities be transformed by this intervention, ranging from communities where they get electricity and water because of the school, to communities where I've just seen an unbelievable transformation of culture because of the arrival of the school,” stated School the World Founder & CEO Kate Curran.
Kate left her job as an attorney at a big corporation to follow her vision. That vision is now a reality with the help of philanthropic investors combined with an investment by the local communities and governments the schools serve, which donate the land, contribute some of the money, and provide local free labor to build the schools.
“So we always have the governmental contribution. These are rural areas. We require all the mayors to pay for 50% of the infrastructure and then we fund the other 50% through philanthropy and all of our programming as well. And we remain in the community for minimum of five years to make sure the school is flourishing and sustainable after our exit,” said Curran.
School the World has built 100 schools with seven more in the pipeline, serving more than 11,000 children. They've trained hundreds of teachers and have stocked hundreds of libraries with books.
“They're actually prouder too. I mean, that's a really significant thing. Schools that are doing well make communities really proud. They take great pride. In the beginning, it's the infrastructure. They're really proud of the infrastructure. But then when they start to see all the kids learning and the change, they become really proud of it. And people start moving, literally. These are extremely poor communities like nothing most people in the United States have ever seen, and yet it's the same. People will move into a community because of a school. Yeah, I mean, it's so amazing,” said Curran.
WBZ NewsRadio1030's Shari Small Reports