Instituto Esperanza
Our vision is a vibrant, thriving community where children are attending school, graduating college and able to provide a better future for their families
At the center of our family empowerment programs is Instituto Esperanza, our Pre-School – 9th Grade school. Keeping children in school requires a holistic family approach which ensures educational attainment through addressing our key foundational pillars: health and nutrition, livable conditions at home and a supportive community. We can break the cycle of multi-generational poverty. But it’s not easy...
Educational Context in Mexico
There is an education crisis in Mexico and our border town is no exception. In San Luis Rio Colorado only 37% of adults have graduated from middle school, 24% from high school and only 9% have a college degree. And for those that manage to stay in school, the academic outcomes are very troubling. In the Programme for International Student Assessment, Mexico came 34th out of 34 countries who are member states of OECD. In fact, according to one study the poorest children in Vietnam outperform the wealthiest children in Mexico.
Students in poverty face many additional barriers to education including: lack of transportation, unsafe commutes, financial challenges, children needing to work to support their family, or children falling too far behind their grade level to advance. In our community, it is rare to find a parent that has made it past middle school themselves, so often parents do not understand the importance of education and struggle to prioritize their child’s academic future over their immediate needs for the extra income or childcare that student could provide. During the COVID-19 pandemic, things got worse for children in poverty as schools shut down for 2+ years and they failed to provide educational resources. Since most of our families don’t have access to the internet, children in our community received no schooling during this period.
Instituto Esperanza Education Model
After over two years of providing increasingly robust before/after school programming for students in our local public school system, our educators realized that to make real progress they needed to teach the students for the entire school day. In August 2024 we launched Instituto Esperanza to provide a comprehensive private Christian education to students in an environment where they have the safety to learn and develop the necessary social and emotional skills to thrive in school.
Instituto Esperanza provides both core and extended subjects: math, reading, writing, English, geography, history, art, music, Bible, ethics and nutrition through interactive and engaging curriculum and activities. Small class sizes allow our educational professionals to provide the support and resources to meet the unique needs of each student, empowering them to succeed academically. For the first time, our students are developing a love for learning and the skills to succeed in life.
What Makes Instituto Esperanza Unique
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
—Nelson Mandela
How to Help
Although it costs $600 a month to educate each child, our families live in extreme poverty and it is a sacrifice to even pay a small fraction of that cost (between $20-$50 per month), leaving a significant gap. A comprehensive Instituto Esperazna education costs include 2.5 health meals daily, all school supplies, materials, books, student backpacks, shoes and two uniforms (washed daily by MdC).
Donors like you make the rest of the program possible for this beautiful, hard-working community. Please donate today.
