KEEP: Katonah Education Exchange Program

How did KEEP begin?

The power of stories inspired the formation of KEEP. In 2010, our book group in Katonah, New York, discussed Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. As we raised our own daughters in a community with access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity, we read about millions of other girls around the world who lacked even the most basic resources and faced daily threats of gender-based violence. Compelled to help these vulnerable girls, we founded KEEP. Nine years later, we had the opportunity to meet Mr. Kristof, who wrote about us in his New York Times newsletter!

“A group of women I met from Katonah, New York, was an inspiration. After reading our book Half the Sky, they started an organization called KEEP to help girls around the world. Sheryl and I are thrilled when we hear of things like this. We don’t just want readers to put our books down and sigh appreciatively; we want to galvanize them to do things, as this group did.”

– Nicholas Kristof, September 2019

Why did we decide to focus on girls’ education?

Research clearly shows girls’ education is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty and inequality. Education enables girls to participate fully in society and achieve their potential, which in turn helps their families and communities attain greater economic security. Convinced of the transformative power of girls’ education, we established KEEP with the mission to KEEP girls in school.

How do we work?

We realized that KEEP could be most effective by supporting grassroots efforts in regions of need. We decided to focus on raising funds for organizations providing educational programs for at-risk girls.

From 2010 - 2014, we partnered with Apne Aap Women Worldwide, an organization working to end sex trafficking in India. KEEP sponsored three after-school educational programs for girls in northern India. Highlights included a penpal exchange and our trip to India to witness Apne Aap’s incredible programs in action.

In 2014, we launched a partnership with the Kakenya Center for Excellence (KCE), a boarding school for girls in rural Kenya. Girls in this region are often forced to drop out of school, undergo the harmful cultural practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), and marry as teenagers. KCE enables girls to stay in school and pursue their dreams, transforming their lives and empowering them to become agents of change in their communities.

Every year, KEEP funds annual tuition scholarships for an entire class of approximately 40 girls at KCE, a commitment of more than $23,000. We are so grateful to our incredible donors who enable us to fulfill our pledge each year. Please read our newsletters and the KCE quarterly reports for detailed information about our fundraisers and the girls we support.