TAHA VAHANVATY
INDIA & UNITED STATES, 18
Project: The Acceptance Project (TAP)
Basic Human Needs: Education
During the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, Taha watched his school, community and nation dive into a civil war of opinions and identities, while experiencing a surge of verbal, physical and online animosity. In March 2017 he launched The Acceptance Project (TAP) – an organization that facilitates civil discourse between America’s students in order to create a generation of empathic leaders, active listeners and critical thinkers. TAP gives students from all backgrounds the space, resources and opportunity to have difficult conversations about issues that affect them. They bring a cost-free, extracurricular model to America’s rural and low-income communities, making open dialogue accessible where it is needed most. As they collect surveys and testimonials each month from their members, TAP uses an evidence-based approach to make their model simple, scalable and adaptable to any school and every student. Their community has grown to 200+ students from 5 schools in Pennsylvania, of which 93% feel TAP has expanded their views on controversial issues. In October 2019 TAP received a grant from the Weiler Family Foundation to launch an intensive TAP Summer program for high school students. TAP attracted the attention of Pennsylvania’s Executive Deputy Attorney General Robert K. Reed, who traveled to Stroudsburg to witness a chapter in action. In 2021 Taha plans to partner with international peacebuilding organizations to develop a civil discourse pipeline that fosters students’ journey from high school to post-college, and grow 15 additional high school chapters across the United States.