On 10 June, Executive Director of the “My Step” Charitable Foundation Anna Hakobyan received representatives of the Central Board of the Armenian Democratic Liberal Party-Ramgavar (ADLP), including Chairman of the ADLP-Ramgavar Central Board Michael Kharabian, Vice-Chairman Alexan Karadanaian and Central Board member Sosi Bilikhian.
At the outset, the guests congratulated Anna Hakobyan on assuming the position of Executive Director of the Foundation and wished her prolific work. At the same time, the guests assured that they are in Armenia with clear mind and would like to assist the Foundation in implementing major programs. According to the representatives of the ADLP Central Board, the programs are great, and the partnership needs to be ongoing.
Anna Hakobyan briefly presented to the guests the current programs of the “My Step” Foundation and the ones that are in the stage of planning. She particularly set aside the program for establishing the “Tshakhruk” social coffee house which is being carried out in partnership with “Tshakhruk” non-governmental organization.
“The “Tshakhruk” Coffee House, or simply “Coffee House” is a social initiative being carried out for young people with disabilities and with features of physical and mental health and will serve as a bridge between those young people and society. The employees will be exclusively young people with disabilities, as a result of which they will have more interactions with the public, and this, in its turn, will have a huge psychological impact. It is very difficult to carry out this program, but the “My Step” Foundation has already started the preparatory activities,” Executive Director of the “My Step” Charitable Foundation Anna Hakobyan said as she provided details.
The “Coffee House” will also serve as a center for the arts where all the handmade items of persons with features of physical and mental health will be exhibited and sold.
Anna Hakobyan also presented the other program that the Foundation is carrying out. The building of “Salvation” Center is in poor condition and is in need of repair. It serves as a daycare center for adults with features of physical and mental health. Anna Hakobyan emphasized that the Foundation might address the ADLP and the political party’s supporters to help implement these programs.
“We already have ongoing programs. Although it was difficult, we successfully launched the “Support of Successful Businesswomen to Novice Businesswomen” initiative — a culture that did not exist in our country. This is a culture of doing charity work that we need to introduce and develop in Armenia as well. Soon 42 novice businesswomen will each be granted AMD 1,000,000 to start their respective businesses. The first program was a pilot program, but we have set the goal to make it ongoing,” Anna Hakobyan emphasized.
The Deputy Directors of the Foundation presented also the other programs, including the “Horizons” Dual Education Program, which is also being expanded (this new educational format will be introduced in another 6 communities). “Quanta” Program is a Master’s Degree Program in Quantum and Mesoscopic Physics, and the Program for Discovering the Professional Potential of War Veterans is targeted at the social-economic re-integration of war veterans having received injuries.
“Helping each other should become a culture for the people,” Vice-Chairman of the ADLP Central Board Alexan Karadanaian emphasized at the end of the meeting, adding that the ADLP will present all the programs of the “My Step” Foundation to their nearly 15,000 supporters and will make efforts to do everything possible for implementation of the programs. In response, Anna Hakobyan expressed gratitude for the partnership.
