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Jahin Rahman
Grade 11
Hometown: New York, New York
School: Academy of American Studies, New York, New York
Program: Efforts in Youth Development of Bangladesh (EYDB)
Jahin Rahman positively affects the lives of thousands of street children in the slums of Bangladesh. Twenty-five men chased and threw rocks at third-grader Jahin and her friends during a violent political protest in her native country before her family immigrated to the United States. Molded by the dangerous experience, Jahin dedicated herself to creating change. “I founded Efforts in Youth Development of Bangladesh (EYDB) with a motive to get at-risk and street youth off the streets through opportunities of free permanent education and development,” said Jahin. “My target is eventually supporting all 600,000 street children of Bangladesh for them to become the next generation of Bangladeshi social justice change makers through education.”
Jahin leads more than 300 volunteers from Dhaka, Bangladesh and across the U.S. and seven countries to raise money, oversee building, and run programs for libraries, a school, a day care center for garment factory workers, computer labs, bathrooms for girls in rural schools, a drug rehabilitation center and a stipend-based educational program for child servants. In 2020, Jahin and her cadre of student volunteers quickly changed direction to temporarily direct donations to provide rations for residents of slums affected by COVID-19.
Jahin’s Power of Children Awards nominator Selima Ashraf says EYDB’s program, called Emerge, is the only one of its kind providing stipend-based educational and vocational training for Bangladeshi child servants, of which the country has more than 420,000. With her POCA grant, Jahin intends to sponsor 80 drug-addicted boys through its residential rehabilitation and educational program, Strive, to put them on a path to having productive lives.
For more information about EYDB, visit www.eydborganization.wixsite.com/eydb
