The CYEC has significant, ongoing collaborations with the following organizations:
Pennsylvania State University
Each year, one class from The Pennsylvania State University travels to the CYEC to collaborate with the Centre’s staff and youth and to offer support for the Centre’s programs. During the spring semester, students learn about cultural, economic and social conditions in Kenya. Various student teams build on this knowledge to identify and develop options for youth development and enterprise development. The various teams of students work on projects including peer mentoring programs, agricultural production, waste to value projects and entrepreneurship training programs. Penn State’s students and faculty and the CYEC’s youth and staff collaborate and work together to improve the CYEC.
Kansas State University
International Service Teams
International Service Teams (IST) is a service-learning program of interdisciplinary teams of Kansas State University students who serve in communities around the world during the summer break. IST has been partnered with the CYEC since 2009, and has worked on developing after-school clubs, a drop-in center, the Zawadi shop, and leadership development programs. Spending at least eight weeks at the CYEC allows students to form deep bonds with the youth and staff, and always return to the US with a new perspective on the global community and development work.
Zawadi Society
The Zawadi Society is a network of local volunteers, prominent business people, university students and professional artists. Since 2011, society members have donated their time and skills to the Centre’s programs, improving and expanding them. The society aims to create an expansive network within the community of like-minded individuals dedicated to empowering the children and youth of Kenya.
Street Families Rehabilitation Trust Fund
The Street Families Rehabilitation Trust Fund is a public and private sector initiative that was established to coordinate rehabilitation activities for street families in Kenya. The Trust works to educate the public, mobilize resources and manage a fund to support rehabilitation activities to benefit those surviving on the streets of Kenya’s towns and cities. The Trust helped establish the CYEC.
Decent Life Volunteers
Decent Life Volunteers is a non-profit group whose belief is that everyone should have the opportunity to live a decent life. Our vision is to connect the skills of volunteers to the rampant needs of the poor and the displaced who beg to survive. Our mission is to pull these two groups together to create a “decent life” wherever possible. Decent Life Volunteers helped start the CYEC clinic and works to provide school shoes to all of the Centre’s children.