Arogya World received a significant gift of $1.05 million from Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST), to advance the health of adolescents in India at a recent event organized by India Philanthropy Alliance (IPA) at Drexel Univ in Philadelphia. This 3-year grant marks India Giving Day, an effort initiated by the IPA, and being implemented throughout the US, to increase giving to India causes and celebrate the joy of giving.

“We are grateful to RIST for their significant investment in India’s next generation. This transformative gift, the biggest grant in the history of Arogya World, will help us scale our school's program, set India’s children up for a future of health, and ensure a productive future workforce that can fuel India’s economic growth,“ said Dr. Nalini Saligram, Founder & Board Chair, Arogya World.

“With this grant, RIST is continuing our deep investment in systems change for India’s development, and to help the country get closer to meeting the SDGs. Arogya World is a long-standing partner of ours and we are confident we will see meaningful results in this large-scale project,” said Paul Glick, Executive Director, Rural India Supporting Trust (RIST).

With this RIST grant, Arogya World will reach 1.5 million middle school kids, mostly in government schools in India, with its impactful school health program. A key hallmark of the project is establishing fidelity and effectiveness district-wide to pave the way for a potential state-wide scale-up in later phases. Another important feature is to make the program sustainable by recognizing 100 schools in India as Arogya Schools, with the capacity to promote health in the school community long term.

"RIST has been an incredible, long-time supporter and we are delighted to continue our partnership as we enter this next phase of the program, reaching more children and increasing sustainability. We couldn't be more excited for this collaboration and the impact we can make together." - Jackie Williams, Director of Development, Arogya World

“This is a huge encouragement for us to take our Healthy Schools program to many more schools impacting many more middle school-age children across the country and ensuring that the impact is sustainable.” 

Dr Smriti Pahwa, Regional Director, Healthy Schools Program, Arogya World

"As children and teenagers spend most of their time in the classroom, schools have the opportunity to positively influence students’ quality of life, playing a crucial role in fostering their health. Arogya World's Healthy Schools Program promotes these causes and is very popular. The target to expand this year is a dream number and this grant would help Arogya World in reaching out to larger number of children through our strong partners, CINI and SRU Innovations." - Nandini Ganesh, Training Lead & Coordinator, Healthy Schools Program, Arogya World

Click here to read

• Arogya Press Release
• IPA Press Release
• ET Health World coverage
• The American Bazaar coverage

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