CURRENT PROJECTS

Scholarships and Apprenticeship Programs for Casa Jacinta Graduates

Prescolar Abuelita Carmen - Rural Preschool 

Carpentry Apprenticeship Program for high risk youth and hearing impaired students

Las Esperanzas Vocational and Educational Program for Impoverished Adolescent Girls

Carpentry Apprenticeship Program for at-risk youth
Nicaraguan Children’s Friendship Committee’s (NCFC) supports a carpentry apprenticeship program located at a community center in the “Sutyaba” neighborhood of Leon. At-risk Nicaraguan youth deal daily with unemployment and poverty. The apprenticeship program offers these youth a way out of the violence that surrounds them and offers an alternative to selling and using drugs. In 2010, 10 students were enrolled in the program and six of them are from a school for students with special needs and are deaf-mute.

The program teaches advanced carpentry skills and offers educational classes on weekdays. Students learn how to build furniture, and go on to create rocking chairs, cribs, dressers and tables that can be sold at market.

NCFC donations are used to purchase materials and equipment used in the school as well as covering the monthly stipend for the program’s teacher.
NCFC’s support helps young men find a path to stability

The program has given new hope to many at-risk young men that had run out of options. Last year alone, five graduates including one young man that is deaf and mute, found full-time work. Three graduates went on to start their own business. Other graduates formed a cooperative and have done residential and commercial projects such as cabinets & fixtures for Café Rosita in Leon, a historical colonial home restored owned by American and Dutch partners.