As with the rest of the world, we watched with shock and sadness at the revelation of the devastating February 4 earthquake in Turkiye. We immediately began exploring the role our Sparks leadership program for university women might play.
Recognizing that university women in the region will have an especially difficult time recovering, we made “How to Help” the main theme of our fundraising event in Silicon Valley on February 18. It was there that we announced our plans for the enhanced Sparks Program.
Here are the basics of the enhanced Sparks initiative.
* DLD, our sister organization in Turkiye, will launch and focus all of its resources for the upcoming 2023-24 academic year on the program.
* In addition to the established social change projects curriculum, Sparks will provide psychosocial support to university women affected by the earthquake. The intent is to help them continue their lives and studies through the powers of collaboration, sisterhood, solidarity, and giving-back.
* The Program will be “trauma-informed” and sensitive to the needs of the newly devastated women.
* The psychosocial support approach is being developed by field experts specifically for this target group.
* Fundraising for the new version is on-going. Donations are needed and will be gratefully accepted.