CARTHA’s C2G2 training model guides what we do and how we do what we do and how we keep learning and updating ourselves constantly.
Many fields employ some form of multisector collaboration, and professionals acquire the related technical (legal and business) competencies. We aim to add the social dimension by developing and providing complementary educational and training programs that inspire and connect Collaborative Doers. We partner with individuals, professional societies, campuses, and social service clubs to organize/sponsor conferences, public forums, and seminars reaching faculty, students, professionals and public citizens.
CARTHA Glocalizers inspire non-hierarchical Aspirations Exchanges and mobilize resources for Carthans across disciplines, sectors, regions, cultures, and ages. CARTHA’s programs since 2006 have always mingled the aspirations of Collaborative Doers, young and old.
Our current programs are guided by the vision outlined in our Annual Workplans.
Activity Summaries and Program Accomplishments are included each year in our Annual Tax Returns.
We highlight a few programs below:
2021
Musicality in Parks conceived by CARTHA Founder Usha R. Balakrishnan
2017-ongoing
Iowa Corridor Sangeet, a community collaborative (led by Dr. Nitin Karandikar) to foster new and caring friendships through concerts, learnings and discussions with South Asian musicians, filmmakers, and artists. While over a dozen programs have been held, just a sampling are posted here:
Bollywood Music Director S.D. Burman and his songs featured by Niche Entertainment
April 2018 – Violin Concert by Lalitha M and Nandini M
Hindustani Vocal Concert by Dr. Ashwini Bhide Deshpande
2018
2016-2017
Celebration of CARTHA’s 10th anniversary coincided with CARTHA Founder Usha Balakrishnan serving as the 101st President of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club (which was then the largest Club in the State of Iowa in terms of membership size of 335). Several of the programs were kindly recorded at no-cost by the City of Iowa City’s Public TV Channel 4 and are posted below:
October 2016 – Program on Brain Health with Maria Carillo from the Alzheimer’s Disease Association
March 2017 – Program about RAG4Clubfoot
June 2017 – Celebration of Women Leaders in Rotary
2006-2017
INDIA WINTERIM EXPERIENTIAL COLLABORATIVE LEARNING COURSES
CARTHA, since inception, has been an enabler and co-sponsor of the India Winterim experiential learning courses for which our close collaborator and CARTHA Ambassador Raj Rajagopal–was recognized with a 2016 national award from the International Institute of Education. CARTHA raised and distributed over $50,000 to support student travel stipends and networking seminars. By the time Professor Rajagopal retired from the University of Iowa in 2017, over 1,200 students and faculty had participated in the India Winterim Collaborative Learning and Cross-Border Exchanges, hosted by over 40 leading nonprofits serving as educational partners in different parts of India. After his retirement from the University of Iowa, Raj went on to establish a new nonprofit named Manodharma to continue his tireless explorations for further scale-up of these types of cross-border exchanges. CARTHA continues to be a supporter and partner to Raj in these new efforts.
2007
October 26, 2007: Through kind encouragement from Past Rotary International President Carlos Canseco (who led the launch of the worlwide polio eradication campaign in 1984-1985 during his RI Presidency year), CARTHA’s work was featured in a presentation at the Rotary Club of Obispado in Monterrey, Mexico.
October 27, 2007: CARTHA, in partnership with Hugo Barrera Saldanha, CARTHA organized the Healthcare Panel at the Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico.
2008
February 2008: CARTHA organizes a symposium titled “Humanity at the Nexus: Entrepreneurship in Global Health Partnerships” at the Annual Meeting of AAAS in Boston, MA.
November 14-16, 2008: In partnership with Carlos Lucena de Aguiar and FIOCRUZ, CARTHA helped co-organize a two-day conference around the topic of Health Innovation Technology Transfer Partnerships in Recife, Brazil.
2009
February 2009: CARTHA Founder speaks about CARTHA’s early vision and work at a meeting organized by the World Health Organization’s South-South Tropical Diseases Network, a group of scientists from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, at the Rockefeller Study Center in Bellagio, Italy.
February 14, 2009: CARTHA organized “Thirsting for Sustenance: Global Water Access Partnerships” at the Annual Meeting of the AAAS in Chicago, IL.
2012
The Derek Project – produced by CARTHA Fellow Amie Ohlmann
CARTHA Fellow Amie Ohlmann organizes The Derek Project in partnership with arts teachers in three local high schools. The culminating event in April 2012 features oral readings by Dr. Natasha Trethewey (who shortly after her visit in Iowa City was named US Poet Laureate) from her book “Native Guard.” Exploring aspects of collaborative dexterity within communities, we teamed up with not only the teachers but also with artistic high-schoolers, and talented MFA students, and local nonprofits dedicated to addressing youth development among at-risk children and prevention of domestic violence and provision of support to victims of domestic abuse.
2013-2015
Rotaract of Iowa City Area (RICA): A CARTHA partnership designed with Rotary
Crafted as a partnership with the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club and Rotary 6000 District, CARTHA (with the help of Glenn Martin) led the launch of a new community-based Rotaract of Iowa City Area on September 12, 2013 at the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce. With 39 inspired people in attendance, the inauguration featured Rotary 6000 District Governor Jacque Andrew. These early interactions with Rotaractors led in large part to the organization of a road trip in 2016 for Iowa college students and Rotarians to visit and take a tour of Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, IL.
2016-2017
CARTHA’s 10th Birth Anniversary Celebrations
As CARTHA celebrated her 10th anniversary, our founder was also volunteering as the 2016-17 President of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Club. So, she organized several programs at Rotary which were kindly videotaped by Iowa City Channel 4 TV:
- Sep.1, 2016: CARTHA Board member and Emmy-winning documentary producer Linda Harrar delivered this poignant presentation
- Sep. 8, 2016: CARTHA Ambassador Raj Rajagopal speaks about the India Winterim Experiential Learning Courses at a CARTHA-sponsored program of the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council
- 2016 Mandela Washington Fellows (25 young entrepreneurs from 18 different countries of Africa who were visiting at the Tippie College of Business)-Main Speaker is Rotary International Past President Ray Klinginsmith
- October 2016: CARTHA sponsored an evening event to connect humanitarian volunteers and Rotarians to writers, young and old. Featured speaker was Christopher Merrill, director of the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program. Past Board Member of CARTHA, Yvonne Owuor, a Kenyan writer, spent Fall 2017 in Iowa.
- Rotarian Action Group for Clubfoot (www.rag4clubfoot.org) with the 2016-17 ABI Leadership Iowa Class
December 2016: CARTHA Glocalizer organized around the topic of unresolved grief in communities. An Agency Endowment Fund on behalf of CARTHA was started at the Community Foundation of Johnson County.
2017-present
CARTHA-Iowa Corridor Sangeet (ICS), a community collaborative
In partnership with CARTHA Ambassador Nitin Karandikar and a whole host of new volunteers, CARTHA has raised over $85,000 from individual donors, local institutions, and two major Humanities Iowa grants in support of the Iowa Corridor Sangeet partnership program. ICS aims to bring educational and awareness-raising programs featuring South Asian artists and musicians of high calibre to the Eastern Iowa community. These musical programs also help connect people and advance healthfulness (i.e., reduce loneliness) through the sharing of music and childhood memories. The Iowa Corridor Sangeet launch event on October 30, 2017 was videotaped and you can watch the program here featuring songs of famed Bollywood music director, the late S.D.Burman.
September 2017: CARTHA sponsored the “Promoting Resiliency and Trauma Informed Care” conference organized by Dr. Resmiye Oral, et a;.
2018
Eight programs of Iowa Corridor Sangeet were held throughout the year. Bollywood program featuring R.D.Burman was videotaped and is accessible here.
September 18, 2018: In partnership with Dr. Ann Broderick and a couple of dozen local physicians, nurses, and hospice community volunteers, CARTHA is organized a Glocalizer event titled “Dying-Well Dialogues” to promote community awareness, resource networks, and coping skills for patients, families, and caregivers during end-of-life phases. Featuring Dr. M.R. Rajagopal, Founder of Pallium India during his visit to Iowa City, this Glocalizer was a moderated dialogue (with physicians, academics, practitioners, and community volunteers in Iowa and India) to highlight the community preparedness challenges in palliative care and hospice.
September 24, 2018: CARTHA sponsored and co-organized (with Mihaela Bojin of the University of Iowa Research Foundation) a symposium titled “Standards, Feats, and Mishaps in Entrepreneurship” at the Licensing Executive Society’s Iowa Chapter Meeting.
2019
Four programs of Iowa Corridor Sangeet were held.
2020
Ongoing programs of Iowa Corridor Sangeet are being held.
To support our program activities or partner with us, please call or write to our founder Usha R. Balakrishnan.