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

Vocational Program for Adolescent Girls – Las Esperanzas
In February 2010, NCFC launched a sewing cooperative and literacy program to give “esperanza” (hope) of “una vida major” (a better life) to needy girls living in a deprived community adjacent to a garbage dump in Leon. Many of these adolescent girls resort to collecting recyclable bottles at the dump to sell or are vendors of tortillas and other items. Poverty, high crime rates, sexual abuse of girls in and outside of the home, and early pregnancies go hand in hand in this neighborhood.

NCFC filled the gap!
An elder woman of the community, Dona Carmen, who is trusted by family members, initiated this program. She had the vision and her community’s trust but needed seed money to get started.

NCFC has purchased three sewing machines and provides a monthly allocation for materials, supplies and the salaries of the literacy and sewing teachers. Las Esperanzas are learning to sew marketable products for local markets. They sell pillows, children’s clothing and tablewares. In addition tothe training the program also offers girls the chance to attend school in theafternoons with access to health and social services.

The sewing cooperative is also offering these girls a place of safe refuge and a chance to develop their self-esteem, awareness of legal protections and social skills. It is a place where they can focus on themselves, instead of being caretakers to siblings at such young ages.