Our Story

Co-founders Jean and Francisco are two dear friends that came together and formed Misión de Caridad in response to changes at the border in late 2018. Families seeking asylum in the United States were being denied immediate entry and were being forced to wait months, if not years, while their cases were being processed. The majority of the families had nowhere to stay and no other options besides local shelters, squalid apartments, or living on the streets.

While many border-based initiatives are designed to help migrants on the move and immigration to the US, we come alongside displaced families who have fled to the border but for whom asylum is not a realistic option. Our community members find themselves unable to move forward but unsafe or unable to return to their communities of origin.

Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty for displaced women and children on the Mexican side of the border by educating children and empowering families to build healthy lives of purpose within self-reliant communities. Our vision is a vibrant, thriving community where children are attending school, graduating college, and able to provide a better future for their families.

Children at the border are at an extremely high risk of being unschooled, with more than 60% never completing secondary school. This is a trend we are changing by working to ensure every child gets an education by focusing on the entire family. We know that educational attainment among displaced children living in extreme poverty is only possible with a holistic approach where the needs of the entire family situation are taken into consideration. 

We look at youth education as a house that we are building through our education programs. The house contains the necessary educational elements while the foundation we are building ensures our students and families have healthy bodies and minds, livable conditions and economic capacity, and a supportive network of empowered role models. 

Each of these foundational building blocks contains elements of humanitarian aid and empowerment programs. We know that if we are going to address the crisis at our border, we need to look at and address the root causes of migration. We need to take a multi-generational approach treating everyone with the dignity that they deserve and providing hope that life can improve.

Addressing the needs at the border requires local solutions and local staffing. Not only do our staff live locally at the border, but over 30% are being raised and trained as leaders from within the community we serve. While we are currently implementing our holistic family approach in one community, we aspire to share this empowerment approach along border towns across northern Mexico. 

We hope you will support our work and we promise your donation, time and effort will be used well. Our teams in the United States and Mexico work together and are led by Francisco and Jean. The U.S. team focuses on fundraising, raising awareness around issues, and planning programs. The Mexico team is on the ground implementing our programs, and supporting and managing the day-to-day needs of families at the border.

We are about people, not politics. We are responding to this crisis out of love. We understand how blessed we are, and that we should use what we have and our abilities to help others.

1 Peter 4:8-10 states:

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”

Francisco Ortega & Jean Sicurella
Co-Founders

Francisco and Jean pose with one of our staff and two of her children

Learn more about how MdC began

We interviewed Francisco on his work with MdC for our blog. Francisco shares his heart for serving migrants and tells more of the story of MdC’s founding.