pencilbricks Information

pencilbricks is a non-profit initiative led by Teach for India alumni working towards bridging the gap between schools and community. Vision - Creating empowered communities, where diverse set of stakeholders meet and learn from each other with primary focus being overall well being of the child. Mission - Building a movement child and parent leaders who will be the change makers in the communities. Currently we work in Barrel market community of Ahmedabad. One of the projects ‘Roots and Wings - a leaning centre’ is an attempt to answer the queries of many children, their teachers and parents. It is a community, an after-school space for children ranging in age from kindergarten to adolescent. These children come from different parts of the Chandola barrel market community a dump yard for Ahmedabad. The driving goal is to provide a safe learning space for these children and adults where they can explore their interests, question and re-learn their subjects, understand the community and the people, solve community issues through project based learning and unleash their talents in various art forms and sports. Another project - Ammi’s Kitchen focuses on providing healthy and hygienic meals for a nominal price of Rs.5 or Rs.10 so as to not burden the students, rather provide an alternative solutions to the chips problem. This food is cooked by the mothers in the community. We collaborate with nutritionist and design healthy and affordable meals. We conduct school level PTMs and learnings circles with mothers to build awareness among them to bring about a long lasting change.
 With the above projects and few more ideas of engaging community and school, we aspire to build parent, student and other local leaders who will be committed and focused on creating better spaces for their children.