History of Longitude Pittsburgh Organization (LPO)

Longitude Pittsburgh Organization (LPO) was established in June 2011 by Paras Singh Minhas after his visit to Ghana and witnessing the poverty-stricken conditions in Ghana. Visting Abeka, a poor suburb in the capital Accra, Paras worked with the Professional Secretarial Academy (PROFESA) and the Longitude organization in order to identify key problems that many children and adolescents face.

In an area which may not see running water for several days, regular power outages, and sub-standard government schools - providing education to the people that live there is a challenge. Working with PROFESA and the Longitude organization, Paras created LPO to create provide permanent solutions for the education of underprivileged kids. After visiting PROFESA and working to better the education of the children in Ghana, LPO has moved on to help another population in need, the Dalits of Andhra Pradesh, India.

LPO, affiliated with the Longitude organization in Providence, RI and sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh, is now seeking grant funding to help educate the Dalit children of Andhra Pradesh.

Mission

LPO's main mission is to help the children and adolescents attain an education in the difficult and impoverished world in which they live. We send teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the Pittsburgh area each summer to help out at PROFESA in Ghana as well as Chevru village in India. Our next trip will be in May 2013 with a group of approximately 10 college students attending.