Commit2Change

Commit 2 Change (C2C) is a non-profit organization that was founded on the belief that girls have the ability to take control of their lives if given the proper educational tools and are empowered to create positive change in their communities. Based on this belief, C2C is currently committed to working with orphan girls aged 13-18 in four cities throughout India. The girls of this community are not always orphans in the traditional sense, but are what we refer to as “throwaways”, unwanted girls who were cast away from their families based on poverty or discrimination against the girl child. C2C provides programs tailored towards the needs of these girls to achieve intermediate outcomes that affect the behavior around the girls’ ability to choose. These programs include Adaptive Education Programs, Tutoring, Peer to Peer Mentorship and Mental Wellness Programs. Ultimately, these programs support our long-term vision of transforming the lives of orphan girls and start a forward moving cycle of empowerment for all of these girls in the community. C2C believes that since some of the girls come from situations of domestic violence or negative family upbringing, they must first obtain a positive sense of self-worth particularly with respect to confidence and coping with past trauma. C2C also realizes that in order to have the freedom to make choices, certain life skills must be learned such as financial literacy and problem solving. Finally, the girls should complete university or vocational school to ensure that they are competitive in the job market should they choose this course to become financially stable, an essential component to being empowered and giving back to their communities. In this theory, we make the assumption that due to the lack of parental figures, the parental push back that encompasses most impoverished adolescence girls in India from making independent choices is actually non-existent with C2C girls. Thus, the empowerment programming can be successfully implemented. As we look forward, C2C plans to conduct extensive field visits to India to gather the crucial data necessary to support its theory and taking our organization to the next level of implementing systematic change in India. For more information and opportunities to support Commit2Change, please visit: www.commit2change.org