What is JAAS? - JAAS Foundation

We are

Opportunity Creators

JAAS Foundation helps schools and underprivileged students, adults, and communities in Ethiopia, Uganda, Venezuela, Colombia, Kenya, and other countries across the world. The JAAS Foundation maintains three foundational and equal components to create opportunities across the globe: Learning the universal language, promoting Digital literacy, and providing Connectivity & internet access.

These components when engaged with a desire to grow manifest the very essence of what this foundation is all about. Educational Equity for all. The small, volunteer-driven organization has no governmental or political affiliation and wishes to help anyone regardless of race, religion, creed, or gender. Since the JAAS Foundation has little overhead, every donation goes deeper into the program to ensure educational prosperity is achieved.

Aleksey and Jane Sinyagin with young student

Our Story

In 2016, Aleksey Sinyagin was an engineering manager for Microsoft. As part of Microsoft’s My Skills For Africa initiative, he had the chance to visit Ethiopia and use his skills to help various nonprofits. In Ethiopia, Aleksey saw a first-hand account of the potential the children in these underserved areas possessed, however they simply didn’t have the opportunity to be successful. Later he and his wife Jane went on a volunteering trip to Uganda and saw similar problems.

There was a Desire to Help

Aleksey and Jane wanted to do something special for these children but didn’t know where to start. They bought and donated computers however, it was clear that the children could not make the most of them. This is mainly because they didn’t have internet connectivity, English skills, and digital literacy needed to navigate this new world. That realization gave Aleksey and Jane motivation to help and that’s how JAAS Foundation was born. Their vision was for disadvantaged children to have access to computer software that would remediate the problems of poverty causing a lack of skilled teachers, and other hindrances to equitable learning in these regions. This cause is very personal to them, as they both came from a small city in Russia, and they believe that education was the vehicle that drove their success.

We are focused

A Non-Profit with Direction

The JAAS Foundation is on a journey to bring English and digital literacy to the lives of underprivileged children, as it continues to make an impact in the world it also pursues to evolve and refine it’s where, how, and who they serve to maximize the impact. Initially, it focused on connectivity and offered internet connections to schools in struggling countries. Over time, however, the non-profit expanded to offer e-learning content via an online learning portal that was developed via proprietary artificial intelligence software. The portal is intended to help children learn English and digital literacy anywhere in the world. The founders understand that true opportunity can be achieved if all three elements are in place and that no one integrant is more important than the other.

Our core values

Our values play a vital role in the way we conduct and interact with the schools and people we serve, our donors, and our partners.

Being Where Needed

We focus on communities that lack resources, locations that are in crisis, and places where our support can make a maximum impact. After we identify these opportunities, we mobilize our own resources to bring the magic of technology to where it’s needed most.

Preserving and Celebrating Cultural Identity

As we introduce English and/or digital literacy to developing countries, we make it a priority to recognize and preserve the cultural identity of those we serve. We believe that our success is predicated on our ability to establish a rapport with people in a way that considers what’s most important in their lives, appreciates their cultural identities, and works within those parameters.

Making People a Priority

As we develop and promote advanced technology to teach English and digital literacy in developing countries, we make sure that the people we serve are top of mind so that their needs are always met and that they benefit from our services directly. After all, computers will never replace people and they will always need to be taught.

Respecting Different Viewpoints and Perspectives

Since we strive to build bridges that will hopefully close the digital divide, we introduce our e-Learning technology in a way that respects and celebrates different viewpoints and perspectives while also establishing commonalities. This allows underserved communities to be open minded and embrace what we have to offer.

Keeping Partnerships Open

We know that eradicating poverty and opening up avenues to economic opportunities can only be accomplished when we work together. Therefore, we welcome and encourage all types of partnerships – ranging from schools, organizations, and social service entities to municipalities and businesses in the local community. Forging these partnerships strengthens our ability to achieve our mission and fulfill our vision.

Want to get involved?

By donating to the JAAS Foundation not only do you join our cause but you are directly supporting the educational foundation necessary for children and adults in underserved communities to achieve greatness. No matter how big or small the donation, you have made a lasting impact for the underprivileged of today, and fortified the growth of tomorrow.

Donate Today

Board of Directors

Aleksey Sinyagin

Aleksey is founder and CEO of JAAS Foundation which came as a result of his volunteer work in Africa. Aleksey has fifteen years of experience in successfully delivering enterprise-level software solutions and a long history of working as a volunteer. He holds a Ph.D. in computer science and is the author of 11 U.S. and international patents. Aleksey is an active participant in Microsoft’s “My skills for Africa” program and has taken several volunteer trips to Africa and Latin America.

Dr. Sara Garrison

Dr. Garrison is an Information Technology and Business Executive with a passion for developing products and staff. She has a specialized expertise in high volume, high availability, and mission-critical transactions processing. Dr. Garrison served as Vice President of Vertafore in Bothell, WA as well as Senior Vice President for Sabre Holdings, where she was responsible for the direct management of a $200 million applications budget. She previously held the Senior Vice President position at Visa USA where she implemented the new global VisaNet/Direct Exchange network.

Jane Sinyagin

Jane is a co-founder of JAAS Foundation, she has 10+ years of extensive experience in working with and managing software development projects with onsite and remote teams (India, China, France, Israel, and Russia). She holds a Master’s Degree in Psychology and has a deep passion for education and the success of children. As a mother of two, she is actively engaged in volunteering in her local community in the Pacific Northwest.

Rosa A. Zuluaga C.

Before founding Corporate Development Solution, a non-profit organization, Mrs. Zuluaga served as Deputy Ambassador and Plenipotentiary Minister of Colombia at the United Nations. She was in charge of the representation of Colombia in the General Assembly and responsible for Colombia´s position in the negotiations of the Revision Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. She later served as Director and General Manager at “Teleantioquia”, a Public Television Channel in Medellin, Columbia.