Since the conception of NE Home Magazine’s 5 Under 40 awards, the organization has generated over $340k in donations, from 2010-2021. 100% of the proceeds go directly to Barakat, a Cambridge-based charity that helps provide educational opportunities to women and children in Central and South Asia.

Barakat's Mission is dedicated to female empowerment through education and partnerships, enabling them to become their own best advocates. In Pakistan and Afghanistan, they provide exemplary basic education that advances literacy and increases access to secondary education. In India, they support programs to prevent and end violence against girls and women.

Let’s look at the programs that have been funded by the 5 Under 40 proceeds:

• Teachers’ salaries and transportation
• A new all-girls school in Pakistan (opened in 2021)
• Girls College Scholarship Program
• Evening school for girls
• Human Rights teacher training courses
• Free monthly medical checkups at the school
• Complete security system for schools in Pakistan
• In-school childcare for teachers
• After school and summer tutoring in Math, English, and Science
• Renovations and regular maintenance to Mullah Kareem Nazar School in Afghanistan

Now, let’s take a glance at a handful of remarkable young women who have been participating in our educational programs and follow their journeys.