GENÇLİK KÜLTÜR ve HİZMET VAKFI

The foundation’s establishment in Istanbul dates back to the Dodge Clark Fondation in the United States of America. Under the leadership of the YWCA, a committee of American and Turkish volunteers was formed and began its work in Istanbul in 1911. A classroom was opened in Taksim and the work was carried out by Turkish and foreign expert teachers and volunteers. What started as a language school was later expanded to provide secretarial training.
In 1924, the classroom was formalized with a ministerial decision and named “American Language and Art Course“.

Later in 1929, with the efforts of the volunteers of the dershane and the YWCA, the mansion and 20 acres of land in Caddebostan were purchased by the Dodge Clark Fondation, thus opening the first girls’ boarding camp in Turkey. During the summer months, American and Turkish teachers and older sisters taught the girls English, as well as swimming, tennis, handicrafts and social and cultural development. The Caddebostan girls’ camp has a special place in the best memories of the girls who attended the camp during their student years. Additionally, circuits of camps were accessible to kids from low-income households. For many years, bazaars that Kadıköy residents showed great interest in were organized here. Turkish and American volunteers living in Istanbul worked together at these bazaars.

In the 1930s, a playhouse for children and a nursing department for adults were opened in the Taksim classroom.

With the efforts of the volunteers and the YWCA, another mansion in Cihangir was purchased by the Dodge Fondation in 1952. The class room was moved here. For many years, it was owned by our foundation and served as the American Language and Art Classroom.
In 1968, according to the laws of the Turkish Republic, the work permits of foundations with headquarters abroad were abolished, so the YOUTH CULTURE and SERVICE FOUNDATION was established in 1968. Its purpose was determined as “to ensure the social, cultural and physical development of Turkish youth”. Real estates in Cihangir and Caddebostan were transferred to the foundation as assets by their American owners.

In 1980, the Caddebostan camp program was reopened as a daytime sports camp for children aged 6-14. This program pioneered other camps as the first daytime sports camp in Istanbul.
The mansion and its grounds also hosted the orientation program of the “AFS student exchange program”, where many foreign students mingle with Turkish students every year. Every kind of support was given to the camping activities of the National Sailing Team and the international sports festival of Boğaziçi University (1980).

Classroom programs were adapted to the conditions of the day. Training programs were organized in coordination with relevant institutions (1982).

The Caddebostan Education Project, which included a school building to provide vocational training for adults, a multi-purpose gymnasium, an indoor swimming pool, a kindergarten and the restoration of a historic building to serve the neighborhood as a cultural center, was initiated with the financial contribution of the YWCA and the rough construction of the school building was completed in 1987.

In 1990, the American partners of the Foundation left Turkey and the GKHV continued its work with 15 Turkish trustees. However, in order to complete the project, the Foundation sought funding and negotiated with many organizations in exchange for the transfer of usufruct rights (1990).

In the end, the Foundation decided to continue its educational path with Yapı Merkezi Holding on the land that had been used as a training camp for years. With a 49-year operating partnership, NEKAŞ (Nitelikli Eğitim Kurumları A.Ş.) was established and “Irmak Schools” took its unique place in education life. Irmak Schools, created by our Foundation and Yapı Merkezi hand in hand, are today a source of pride for their quality of education.

Recognizing that the most important investment should be made in people, and especially in the teacher who raises those people, our foundation has been supporting prospective teachers studying at faculties of education with scholarship funds, building student houses where they can live in modern conditions, and working to help their social and cultural development since 1999.