Donor Stories
Himalayan Progressive Education Fund
How does a young man from Albuquerque, New Mexico wind up establishing a donor-advised fund to support a school over 9,000 miles away?
Not yet 30 years old, Marc Alongi has already changed the world for students attending the Ashram Paryavaran Vidyalaya (Environmental School, APV) in the Himalayan state of Uttarkhand in India. His experience working with the current director of APV, Anand Dwivedi, teachers and students, inspired a belief that the educational approach practiced at APV can influence education policy and inspire meaningful reform in the state of Uttarakhand and beyond.
As a twenty-year-old college student, Marc traveled to India for a five-week service project. So moved was he by what he experienced there, he decided to return to learn more and contribute his time and energy.
Two years later, Marc returned to the Indian Himalayas on a service fellowship through the Clinton-American India Foundation. He was assigned to work in the field of education, observing a non-governmental model school. It was while Marc was living at the school for a year that he became engaged in the development of the school’s learning model. Working closely with Anand Dwivedi, the two proceeded to expand the school’s innovative learning model, hosting workshops for public school teachers and sharing their message for change across the state of Uttarakhand. Together they have established partnerships with other non-profit organizations, including educational institutions in Delhi that now use APV as a site for teacher education observations and student retreats.
The learning model centers on the concept of “mindful community,” where participants live, work, and learn together in a student-centered, progressive setting. This model provides for students to participate in the stewardship of the school, allowing for a more democratic, creative, and relevant curriculum. A former minister of the Indian Department of Education commented about the school, “It’s one of the only places where I’ve seen children be so happy.”
Marc and several subsequent Clinton Foundation fellows, all of whom have lived for a year at the school, are working together to continue their support of the school. Rather than establish a nonprofit organization, Marc and Chad Robertson worked with the Albuquerque Community Foundation to establish the Himalayan Progressive Education Fund. Proceeds from fundraising events and personal donations are currently supporting stipends for APV teachers, as well as the development of curriculum and teacher resources. Marc returns to Uttarakhand every year during summer break from his work as a curriculum coordinator at the Sequoyah School, a progressive K-8 school in Pasadena.
For more information or to donate to the fund, visit albuquerquefoundation.org/donate/hpef
