About
What do we Promise?
We promise to provide education to underprivileged children to ensure a brighter future. We promise to empower impoverished women, ensuring that they become independent individuals.
We promise to work in unison towards a better tomorrow.
Our Vision and Mission
Our vision is to increase the standard of living of disadvantaged communities worldwide, help build self-respect, improve health and well-being, and provide education and economic development opportunities. We work towards providing underprivileged women and children with the skills, tools, and education to improve their quality of life. We aim to build sustainable programs for providing food, shelter, and medical assistance to help reduce hunger, child abuse, unwanted births, and diseases and create a sense of hope for them.
Our Goals
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Teach basic reading and writing skills
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Assist with tuition fees and school supplies
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Provide balanced meals and essential nutrition
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Provide clothing, and other items necessary for daily life
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Provide lessons on personal hygiene and basic life skills
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Provide medical care to treat disease, deliver vaccines, perform life-changing surgeries and ensure safe childbirth
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Teach computer skills including Internet use, thus providing opportunities for knowledge and advancement
People Behind Promise
Promise Worldwide
Jaya moved with her family to the US in 1995, with no more than a few packed bags. While she decided to stay home to raise her children, her entrepreneurial husband went on to start a company. She has been an active member of the Bay Area Indian Community and has actively participated in many activities including directing and staging 4 theatrical plays. Jaya founded the Promise World Wide non-profit organization ten years ago, to help underprivileged children in the world, starting the project in India. She has organized funding drives and raised money from her family, and friends, the Los Gatos Rotary Club, and from socialites all over California.
Jaya Basu
CEO & President
Soumen is an Electrical Engineer with BS, MS, and PhD degrees all in Electrical Engineering. Since his high school days, Soumen has been providing free tuition to many underprivileged students in India and USA. He is a charter member of the Rotary E-Club of Silicon Valley. He has been living in San Francisco Bay Area for the last 25+ years with his family. He has served on the board of many non-profit organizations in the role of treasurer and secretary. He has an avid interest in teaching mathematics and children’s theatre.
Soumen Ghosh
Vice President & Treasurer
Rangana Lahiri
Secretary
Rangana Lahiri is one of the founding members of Promise Worldwide and has actively helped shape the ideas and principles of the organization to help disadvantaged women and children in India. She passionately believes that all people, regardless of race, sex, nationality and religious beliefs, deserve access to the basic needs of life – food, water, shelter and freedom from violence and
persecution. She has worked hard to provide access to these fundamental needs and education that can pull whole families and societies out of the cycle of poverty. She has travelled extensively to all corners of the globe and loves to engage with the myriads of societies and cultures that represent our Earth. She is an avid painter and artist, and enjoys gourmet cooking.
Vinita Singhal is an engineer turned technical communicator. She received her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University before moving to the Bay Area in Northern California. She feels strongly about advocacy and empowerment for those with challenges in all spheres of life and believes that providing the right help at the right time can change lives.
Vinita Singhal
Director, Marketing
Namrata Dey
Director, Communication
Namrata was born and raised in Kolkata and moved to the United States in 2007. She has been the cultural lead for many years for an NGO called Ankur. Acting and stage theatre has always been her passion. She started acting in stage theatre at an early age, and with time she acted in various plays in school, at local cultural events, and on the professional stage. Though her professional acting career ended with moving to the US, she never lost her passion and love for acting/directing in stage theatre. She is still very actively engaged with multiple thespian groups in the Bay Area and in greater Sacramento. Now she has extended her passion and acting in films as well. Apart from acting, she loves occasional painting, dancing, yoga, and her work. She is a self-made woman who built her career single-handedly. It challenged her at times and gave her great refuge and comfort at times as well. She believes charity starts from home, so what would be more appropriate than working for Promise worldwide?
Sabyasachi “Sky” Basu has acted as the advisor and the IT guy for Promise Worldwide since its inception. He as the Chief Consultant of Camensys, Inc., is a thought leader in healthcare, life science, medical device software and SaMD with 30+ years of experience in developing software for various industries. He is also the head of quality and software development of LifePlus, Inc. An AI-based medical device product company. To learn more about him visit his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/skybasu/
Sky Basu
Advisor
Sudip Nag is currently Corporate Vice President of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Sudip holds PhD and MS degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Sudip has been awarded numerous innovation awards including the top technical achievement award at Xilinx. He holds 30+ patents in the area of EDA and DSP implementations for FPGAs. Sudip has chaired sessions and given tutorials at the IEEE VLSI conference and Design Automation Conference. To learn more about him visit his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudip-nag-1558b/
Sudip Nag
Advisor
Ms. Woodward has a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Social Welfare. She has enjoyed an extensive career as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has focused on issues relating to Child Welfare throughout her 46 years of social work experience in the community. She has been employed by public and private agencies as well as local schools and colleges. She has been self-employed in her own clinical practice for the past twenty-six years. Her practice affords her the opportunity to provide psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and adults. She has many years of leadership experience, having served as President of several non-profit Boards of Directors, as Chair of the Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Commission, and as an active member of the Rotary Club of Los Gatos.
Lynne Woodward
Board Member
Promise Kolkata Charitable Trust
Debabrata Dutta
Chairman & CFO
Debabrata Dutta is a technocrat by profession, having a B. Tech (ME) degree from IIT, Kharagpur. He worked in the field of software development and IT services over a period of 36 years as a professional. Currently, he is working as a consultant, post his retirement, for an organization in the US. His passion has always been to impart education to young learners and he has pursued it all throughout his professional years in an individual capacity. Besides, he also runs a learning centre to enable young aspirants for JEE/NEET examinations to achieve their goals. He is most serious about connecting with young students and making them self-reliant.
Mr Das is a Mathematics graduate from the University of Calcutta and is a West Bengal Government Servant by profession. He has worked in the Land Reforms wing with the specific job of vesting ceiling surplus land in favour of the Government and distributing them among the landless. In his service life spanning over 30 years, he has worked in the remote and fringe areas in West Bengal, India, as well as in the megacity wherein he worked in the acquisition of land for different Government projects and highways. Post-retirement, he works in WBHIDCO and deals with a land allotment in Silicon Valley projects and Business Districts of West Bengal; New town, and Kolkata - in particular. In his Government capacity, he has always tried to uplift the poor and weaker sections of society by imparting service to them. He takes interest in implementing self‐sustained projects that would eventually empower the underprivileged within the constitutional provisions of India.
Amit Kumar Das
President
Shaktibrata Bardhan
COO
Shaktibrata Bardhan served at the Indian Oil Corporation Limited for 35 years, overseeing the marketing division of the corporation. He has worked in the operations department at various field locations and administrative offices, taking care of the supply and distribution of the corporation, as well as the storage and handling of petroleum products. He signed off as the Chief General Manager of the Health, Safety and Environment department of the corporation. Shaktibrata holds a B.Tech degree from Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College and is an alumnus of the Hindu School, alongside being a recipient of the National Scholarship in Secondary Education. He has expertise in leadership, having led a team of young and energetic employees as Location-In-Charge for 8 years and as Functional head for 9 years.
Youth Committee
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Debanjana Mukherjee is a writer and a postgraduate student of English Literature. She likes to express her opinions, especially on the stage, through debate and oration, and slam poetry. A fair share of her interests lies in theatre. At Promise Worldwide, apart from performing planning and administrative duties, Debanjana teaches English and communication to the students. Ms Mukherjee hails from Calcutta and is passionate about food, art, and culture.
Debanjana Mukherjee
Chairperson
Anindita completed her studies in Chemistry and began her career as a senior secondary school teacher in Kolkata. However, after a year she had to relocate to Delhi and join a corporate. She is presently an HR Professional with 16 years of work experience. Anindita enjoys dancing, reading & travelling. Out of a desire to give back to society, she founded a non-profit organization in 2016 with her husband and a few close family friends to aid the homeless & destitute in the Delhi, NCR area. She is delighted to have a platform like Promise to assist the children of Sunderban with their studies.
Anindita Chatterjee
Educator
Volunteers & Interns
Gahan Lahiri, a passionate volunteer, first worked with Promise Worldwide at the age of 16. He volunteered at Promise by teaching English to a group of underprivileged children in India. He is currently pursuing a degree in Biology at Occidental College.
Gahan Lahiri
Volunteer