About
About CINI USA
CINI is an Indian non-government organisation (NGO), regarded as one of the most influential institutions working for poor children in India. Over the past four decades, we have been partnering with central and state government, national and international donors, non-government organisations and local communities to strengthen the capacity of deprived children and women to improve their health, nutrition, education and protection conditions. Distilling international and national experience, we seek to learn from the poor to improve our interventions in under-serviced rural and urban areas. We aim at strengthening local governance processes that give marginalised and poor communities a voice and influence national policy.We adopt a human rights-based approach in our programmes, fostering partnerships for local development among community actors, service providers and elected representatives.
Our Team
Mark Sherman
Co-Director
Mark has served as co-director of CINI-USA since his 2012 return visit to CINI headquarters in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. At that time, CINI’s founding director, Samir Chaudhuri, M.D., asked Mark to accept leadership for CINI’s branch in the United States. Mark’s commitment to the empowerment of girls and women was ignited when he and Fran Hamilton, M.D. adopted their daughter Grace Shanti in Calcutta in 2000.
After 36 years of service as a fireman with the North Metro Fire Rescue near Boulder, Colorado, Mark retired so that he could travel throughout North America raising awareness about CINI’s award-winning programs that uplift the lives of millions of people living in extreme poverty in West Bengal.
Frances Hamilton M.D.
Co-Director
Doctor Hamilton is honored to serve as co-director of CINI-USA and as Grace Shanti’s mother. Her deep respect for CINI’s founding director, Dr. Chaudhuri, and the effectiveness of CINI’s programs began during their initial meeting in 2010. Fran’s commitment to the empowerment of girls is life-long. Born into a medical family in Canada, her first international service was as a teacher in a girls’ school in rural Jamaica, West Indies.
During medical school, Dr. Hamilton volunteered on a mobile hospital bus in rural India and her inspiration to adopt an orphaned girl came to fruition in 2000. Fran has practiced integrative medicine as a family physician for over 25 years, and published a Handbook for Humanitarians entitled Goodness To Go in 2013 to support integral service and benefit CINI’s girl empowerment programs.
Grace Sherman
CINI Guide
Grace was born near Calcutta, India in 2000 and joined her parents in Boulder, Colorado five months later. The family visit to her birthplace in 2010 was momentous for Grace. She visited orphanages, CINI’s medical clinic for malnourished infants, and experienced the abject poverty of Calcutta slums. These experiences galvanized Grace’s compassion. In middle school, she joined PeaceJam, inspired a fund-raiser for CINI, and was chosen by her teachers for a Citizenship award. In her high school business class, Grace’s passion for girl empowerment and her video presentation motivated her classmates to choose CINI for their fundraising efforts.
For years, Grace has volunteered with CINI-USA, raising funds and awareness about the vulnerability of the ‘girl child’ in India. Grace also co-authors with her mother, Dr. Fran Hamilton, a monthly newsletter for their social enterprise Goodness To Go. She envisions a career as a visual storyteller for international philanthropies.