Urban Humanitarian Projects (UHP) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving health and education in urban communities. We envision a world where a long healthy life and a quality education comes standard, not as options. Our projects fall under three categories: fundraising, mentorship, and giving. Our entire organization is run by volunteers and 100% of our funds are used for our projects.

Fundraising:

UHP was founded in 2010 by medical students from St. Georges University (SGU) and have grown tremendously in the past year. Our largest fundraising project is called Wii Olympics, which is a video game tournament held at SGU. This tournament involves the entire campus community and takes about 100 volunteers to coordinate. Over the past year, Wii Olympics raised over $100,000 for humanitarian causes around the world and have been able to improve the lives of thousands of men, women, and children by supporting organizations like Doctors Without Borders and two hospitals in Grenada.

Giving:

Every Christmas, we hold an event called Urban Santa Project. This involves working with several local charities, homeless shelters, and hospitals to distribute personlized gifts to children. In the weeks prior to the event, we collect the names, age, and gender of each child from the organization. Our volunteers then shop for appropriate toys and other items (ex. winter accessories, and hygiene products) that are fit for each child. The gifts are wrapped and delivered by Santa and his elves on Christmas morning. Each child has an opportunity to take a picture with Santa during his visit.

This project started in 2009 with 23 children but grew to over 300 gifts in 2010. Our goal is to distribute over 1000 gifts in 2011.

Mentorship:

We are currently working on launching a high school mentorship program called GURUS Project in New York City. This program, being developed in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, will focus on preventing dropouts and ensuring that every child that graduates on time. High school who sign up for the program are paired with graduate students and professionals for one year one-on-one mentorship. GURUS is an acronym for Guidance and Unity for Urban Success.