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QUEENS WEEKLY, JUNE 21, 2020
Jahin Rahman, (second from left) is the founder of Efforts in Youth Development of Bangladesh (EYDB), a nonprofit organization that provides quality education to children in underserved
communities in Bangladesh. Photo courtesy of Jahin Rahman
Queens Village entrepreneur’s nonprofi t creates
educational materials for Bangladeshi youth
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Jahin Rahman of
Queens Village is on a
mission to help educate
the youth in the slums of
Bangladesh who will be unable
to attend school after
COVID-19 due to financial
constraints.
Rahman is a 16-year-old
entrepreneur and student
at the Academy of American
Studies in Long Island
City. She is a National Prudential
Award winner, a
2020 Bank of America Student
Leader, and a recipient
of other awards for her
social work.
She is the founder of Efforts
in Youth Development
of Bangladesh (EYDB), a
nonprofit student-led organization
in New York City
and Dhaka, the capital of
Bangladesh. The team provides
quality education to
at-risk youth in Bangladesh
by developing paths toward
social sustainability for the
next generation.
In partnership with
organizations, EYDB has
built a library and computer
lab, established a literacy
program, and donated
clothing to benefit children
from underserved communities
in Bangladesh.
Through EYDB, Rahman
and 300-plus youth
from across the U.S. and
eight countries are currently
working on their
next project: creating yearlong
educational materials
for impoverished children
in Bangladesh.
“In Bangladesh, because
of the pandemic, schools are
obviously closed like it is in
the U.S. and we have access
to remote learning,” Rahman
said. “But in Bangladesh,
especially for youths
living in the slums, they
don’t have access to the internet
or any device for remote
learning, and we were
thinking about how we can
create materials to support
their learning.”
In collaboration with
Interns 4-Good, an organization
that connects high
school students with virtual,
skill-based internship
opportunities at nonprofit
organizations, EYDB is
working with 102 interns to
create content for Bangladeshi
youth.
“The interns have been
trained over Zoom and assigned
to specific grades
and subjects. We are focusing
on three subject areas:
English, Bengali and Art,”
Rahman said.
According to Rahman,
the team is preparing worksheets
with lessons for kids
in kindergarten through
eighth grade. Rahman
travels to Bangladesh once
every year, and is hoping
to visit Dhaka in August to
deliver 4,000 copies of the
workbooks to kids living in
the slums, she said.
The organization is also
looking forward to collaborating
with Queens politicians
to provide services
across New York City, but
that initiative is currently
on hold due to the pandemic,
Rahman said.
Additionally, EYDB’s
other projects — the construction
of a drug rehabilitation
center for street
children affected by drugs,
bathrooms for girls in rural
schools, and a daycare center
— have been postponed
as well.
This summer, Rahman
is also partnering with Base
For Girls to distribute 500
menstrual product kits to
girls in Bangladesh, and conduct
menstrual hygiene and
reproductive health classes.
For Rahman, helping to
change at least some of the
kids’ lives in Bangladesh is
a huge accomplishment for
her, she said.
“I’m a very action-driven
person and anything I
can do for the community
motivates me to go on in
my life,” Rahman said. If
at this moment I can help
thousands of children, I
don’t know what can be a
bigger blessing than that
and if I change the lives of
youth, that gives me happiness.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4526.