Our Site

Welcome to the website of the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC), a home for street kids and various community outreach projects located in Pune, India. Currently, we operate four main programs in Pune: the Residential Program, housing twelve children; the Education Outreach Program, supporting the education of more than 200 kids in the slums, the Health Outreach Program, promoting improved health in the slums through education, healthcare and community mobilization; and the Community Outreach Program, focusing on community building and development through legal advocacy workshops, adult literacy classes, vocational training and micro-credit savings groups. There are numerous ways to get involved with our organization and make a difference in the lives of marginalized children, so be sure to check out the information about our branches, the issues driving our work, current openings, and various ways to contribute.

Most importantly, however, this site is about the amazing children with whom we work! We hope that it can serve as a window into the challenges and triumphs, daily happenings and momentous occasions, and growth and transformations experienced by those of us (kids, staff, directors, and volunteers alike) living at the AIC home.

We will do our best to keep things updated regularly, so please check back frequently for the latest newsletter, updates, and photos of our ever-growing children! If you are interested in receiving e-mails with brief updates and photos of the kids on a regular basis, please join our mailing list! You can now also follow us on twitter. We appreciate ideas, feedback, questions, suggestions, creative contributions, and constructive criticism; please feel free to contact us with any or all of the above. Thank you for your interest, and again, welcome to our site!