“Equal Opportunities” is the program implemented since 2001 whose author and founder is the Polish-American Freedom Foundation. For over 20 years the program has organized open grant competitions at national and regional levels as well as training sessions to support civic initiatives that help give equal opportunities for a good start in adulthood to children and young people from rural areas and small towns by improving their competence and developing social skills such as teamwork, ability to win support for achieving their goals and plan their activities. Under the program, NGOs (foundations and associations) but also community centers, libraries and informal groups apply under the program for grants to implement projects that stimulate intellectual and creative aspirations of children and teenagers, develop their ability to achieve independently and realistically set goals, shape active and open attitudes, and encourage them to act for the good of their communities. Thanks to implementation of such projects young people get an opportunity to participate in activities that go beyond the standard curricula offered by schools.

“The PAFF pursues its objectives in close cooperation with a group of selected NGOs, where each of NGOs acts as a program manager for individual PAFF programs. Giving equal educational opportunities has been one of the Foundation’s priorities for years. The objective is to create such a situation that the place where children and young people live and the smaller cultural capital of their environment won’t hamper their education and development,” PAFF Program Director Radosław Jasiński says.

As a result of 20 years of “Equal Opportunities”, not only over 3,000 projects involving ca. 150,000 direct participants (and indirectly almost half a million) have been supported but also the local communities have been activated and integrated to act for the benefit of children and young people. “We would like to thank our long-term partner, the Polish Children and Youth Foundation, for active cooperation. Without engagement and competence of the Foundation’s Team we wouldn’t have achieved it,” Radosław Jasiński noted.

The Civis Polonus Foundation that has been the new Program Manager of “Equal Opportunities” since March 1, 2021, is an experienced and competent NGO which has been implementing active civic education programs at the school and municipality/rural commune levels since 2004. “We are especially proud of the fact that for the last 16 years we have been systematically working to increase civic involvement and civic awareness of young people. We pursue our objectives through educational projects which among other things open new chances and prepare young people to play the real and significant role in their community public life. We hope that the ‘Equal Opportunities’ Program managed by us will further develop,” President of Civis Polonus Foundation Board Joanna Pietrasik says.

The Polish Children and Youth Foundation shall complete the implementation of the present round of “Equal Opportunity 2020” Program on December 31, 2021. Simultaneously from March 1, 2021, the Civis Polonus Foundation, the new “Equal Opportunities” Program Manager, has started its preparations to launch the program’s new round – “Equal Opportunities 2021”.

For more information contact:

• Joanna Pietrasik, the Civis Polonus Foundation, President, tel.: 512033678
• Maria Holzer, the Polish Children and Youth Foundation, Director, tel. 22 8261016

Program website: www.rownacszanse.pl