Mission:
One Good Act is a US based 501(c)(3) charitable organization (EIN: 45-2022853) that aims to empower citizens in need everywhere by providing the skills, tools and services in the areas of education, healthcare and human rights to enable them to beat the cycle of poverty.
Focus Areas:
At One Good Act we drive passion projects as well as work with established partners with a proven record of successfully operating at the grassroots level in different parts of the world. We specifically focus on the following three main areas for maximum impact:
Education: Vocational training, K-12 school curriculum prep to meet world class curriculum standards, Scholarships to international conferences, learning opportunities in STEM and financial grants to higher education (with a specific focus towards women from underprivileged backgrounds)
Healthcare: We believe that medical care, early prevention and proper nutrition are vital for any community to thrive. We donate to food banks and soup kitchens in the US. We work on the ground in Karachi, Pakistan to setup free medical camps and weekly clinics. Providing basic nutrition through a rations program, Vaccination drives, funding critical care operations, Running various preventative health camps (dental, optical, skin) , Homeless soup kitchens, Winter clothing drives are the key areas we focus on.
Advocacy and Human Rights: Refugee aid programs, STEM learning programs and community building programs for underrepresented people and women
Summary of Overall Impact:
To date One Good Act has:
Provided ration grants, built vocational training curriculum, built the K-12 school in Karachi, done extensive fundraising work for disaster relief, held free medical camps through Al-Zohra Welfare Association.
Worked towards providing basic needs for the homeless population in Seattle through coat drives and donations to One Warm Coat and sponsoring quarterly soup kitchens through AlSadaqa.
Provided free and low-cost legal services to under-served immigrant children, families, and refugees through RAICES.
Empowered young women in Pakistan to have better career opportunities and growth by supporting CodeGirls.
Advocated for closing the gender gap in technology globally through support for Pakistani Women In Computing - PWiC.
2019 Highlights:
Education:
K-12 School
Funded 40+ students from Pre-K to Grade 6 at an accredited primary school in Karachi, Pakistan to study completely free of cost. Uniforms and school supplies are also provided free of cost and subsidized after school tutor help provided.
Subjects taught include English Language, Math, Science, Computer Studies, Social Studies, Urdu, Islamic Studies, Arts and Sindhi Language. Use of multimedia for all classes are part of the curriculum and two computer labs and one science lab.
Vocational Training
Funded tuition for several vocational trainings at the accredited vocational training center in Karachi, Pakistan through Al-Zohra. The center is registered with STEVTA (Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority) and has enrolled 6000+ Students since 1998. The training mostly caters to women who want to gain employable skills and do not have much formal education. One Good Act also provided expert guidance in constructing curriculum for Computers and English Language courses.
Approx 25% of graduates find work outside the home after completing a course, 40% move on to further study to gain more specialization and hence better earning and work potential and 35% start home based businesses.
Vocational courses offered are:
- Sewing and Stitching course
- Computer proficiency course with a focus on typing and digital assistant and receptionist skills
- English language course (with a focus on spoken English)
- Beautician course (focus on makeup and henna application and hair styling)
- Spa course (focus on skincare, hair-care)
- Cooking course
- Fitness course (focus on Yoga and aerobics)
Healthcare:
Rations Program
At Al-Zohra underprivileged families are issued ration welfare cards if they meet the below eligibility criteria after a thorough home visit and interview process:
Widowed grandmothers raising orphaned grandchildren. Mostly these are single women unable to earn a living wage on their own.
Widows who are unable to earn a living wage and do not have adult children able to support them.
Single mothers with small children, who are unable to work due to child care responsibilities and lack of access to free or any other kind of child care.
Women running households where the primary earning household member is too sick to work.
Ration cards enable them to get monthly ration, medication and education grants. Al-Zohra Welfare Association currently donates monthly rations to 200+ eligible card holders. One Good Act provided for roughly 50 household's rations for the entire year through Al-Zohra ($170 provides for a single household's ration for a whole year)
Medical Camps and free medications
Ration program card holders who cannot afford essential prescription medications are given free medicines. These include:
Tegretol for epilepsy
High blood pressure medication
Diabetes medication
Thalesemia medication
Thursdays free Skin Clinic by Dr. Naqeeba Munshi of Elements MediSpa. She also donates medicines so these are provided for free to patients. The clinic has treated 7000+ patients to date, many with chronic skin conditions that were preventing them from living a fully functional life.
Annual eye, dental and vaccination camps open to all
Medical Procedures
Monetary help is given on a case-by-case basis (starting with ration program card holders) for non-invasive procedures such as cataract operations and emergency procedures such as C-sections or appendicitis. There is an application and review process for this. One Good Act funded 2 such procedures through Al-Zohra.
Services for the homeless
Funded 4 soup kitchens through AlSadaqa
Funded 500 coats/blankets/warmers through One Warm Coat
Human Rights:
RAICES
Funded legal counsel for several immigrant families through the families together fund.
PWIC
Volunteered hours with the organization to get it setup and create a board and management team
Funded STEM Learning scholarships and STEM Learning travel grants
CodeGirls
Funded laptops for codegirls bootcamp
Sponsored students for codegirls bootcamp
