D.E.F. is a non-profit international organization founded by Russell Simmons, along with other individuals in the diamond and jewelry industries and others who are committed to the empowerment of Africa. CIDA City Campus in Johannesburg is D.E.F.'s first named beneficiary and a model for higher education in South Africa. The Simmons Jewelry Co.’s GREEN BRACELET is the symbol of our cause and has raised more than $650,000 for the fund to date.
ABOUT CIDA CITY CAMPUS, OUR BENEFICIARY SCHOOL IN JOHANNESBURG:
CIDA (Community and Individual Development Association) was established to provide higher education designed to encourage human, economic and social development for the large population of South African youth living in disadvantaged communities. In the mid 1990s, CIDA began by running projects in township schools designed to upgrade the levels of education offered to students. With this focus on greater skill building, high school students were putting great effort into passing their final year and succeeding, only to be stuck in a spiral of poverty with no money and basic resources to further their education and little possibility of finding work with a 70% youth unemployment rate. Thus, the impetus for starting an institution that could be a model for low-cost higher education for Africa's poor was established.
In 2000, CIDA City Campus was launched in Johannesburg, South Africa as Africa's first virtually free college to provide opportunity for the huge numbers of students who had no access to furthering their education. The school combined self-development initiatives with an academic focus on a business degree program, along with skill-building programs for students not yet prepared for higher education. Student service to the school and the student's own community was also a fundamental principle.
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