Understand the Community

The volunteers conduct home visits, interview school teachers, parents and potential recipients themselves to choose the final recipients. Volunteers will also try to establish personal relations with the supported students and supply sustained encouragement and mentorship to the local students.

Summary

Seedling Fund is a Dream Corps-sponsored scholarship that supports students who are financially poor but academically motivated from volunteer sites in China.

Dream Corps allocates a certain amount of funds to each volunteer team to be distributed at the sites. The size of the fund and the number of students supported depends on funding available and local conditions. Unlike Hope Projects, the fund is administrated by volunteer teams working at the local sites.

The life of children in rural China features "no books" and "no reading". Poverty and inaccessibility to books combined with an environment discouraging intellectual reading have led to the absence of reading in rural children's lives. Lack of reading has seriously constrained the children's imagination, academic performances and life perspectives.

Community Profile

Pilot Information Village Project

Conducted research on local agricultural product market.
Conducted research on the feasibility of internet-based market (cost-benefit analysis, inquiry of local support, and implementation plan).
Built website for introducing village agricultural product and information.
Built village information station (donated computer, internet equipment; recruited local station manager) at Ciezhuang Village (谢庄村).

Community Profile

Documented minority village life and school life through photography

Suggested Seedling Fund Project as a replacement of the Library Project at this particular site

Facts at a Glance:

There are approximately 212 million people in China living on $1 or less a day. For children from those families, most of whom reside in the rural areas, having a book to read may just be a dream.

Understand the Community Photo Collection