Give Argentine Youth a Chance

Dear friends,

In these last few months, the Cimientos Graduate Network has shared two breakfasts with our young participants - one with graduates who are studying and another with graduates who are working. It was a very enriching experience both for the graduates as well as the participating members of the Cimientos team.

The objective of the breakfasts was to identify the difficulties graduates confront as they begin to work or to study in order to continue improving the service we provide them. We also wanted to provide a venue for the graduates to share their experiences and learn from each other. At both breakfasts participation was very animated, and as a result we were able to determine some of the most compelling needs that characterize the moment of leaving high school.

We also wanted to tell you that in Argentina we celebrate Labor Day on May 1st; your contribution will give more young Argentines a reason to celebrate this holiday!

The Cimientos Team

Queridos amigos,

En estos últimos meses la Red de Egresados de Cimientos ha compartido dos desayunos con los jóvenes participantes de la Red; uno con egresados que estudian y otro con egresados que trabajan. ¡Fue una experiencia muy enriquecedora tanto para los egresados como para los miembros de del equipo de Cimientos que participaron!

Los objetivos de los desayunos eran detectar cuales son las dificultades con las que se enfrentan los egresados al empezar a trabajar o estudiar para poder seguir mejorando las ofertas que les ofrecemos. El otro objetivo era que los egresados intercambien experiencias entre ellos para aprender de las vivencias de los otros. En ambos desayunos la participación de los chicos fue muy activa, razón por lo cual pudimos divisar algunas de las necesidades más relevantes a la hora de salir de la escuela secundaria.

Además queríamos contarles que en Argentina el primero de mayo festejamos el día del Trabajador ¡Tu aporte puede ayudar a que más jóvenes argentinos puedan festejar el día del Trabajador!

Equipo de Cimientos

Dear GlobalGiving Friends,

Last year we worked hard to keep our New Years resolutions to help our graduates, meaning that in 2011:

• 1436 participants received useful information about education, employment or job-training opportunities to help them reach their personal and professional goals 
• 381 graduates are subscribed to our Graduates’ blog and 316 became Facebook friends with us after we created our page earlier this year.  
•  469 participants graduated from high school and Cimientos’ School Scholarship Program. 
• 281 of our recent high school graduates joined the Graduates Network.  
• 463 graduates received vital job training such as how to search for a job, computer skills, and accounting lessons.
• 35 participants were granted scholarships to further their education. 
• 3 participants proudly graduated from college. They all had scholarships that the Graduates Network helped them receive, greatly increasing their ability to attend and stay in school through the end.
• 27 graduates found jobs thanks to our help.
• 98 participants volunteered at Cimientos. 
• 6 graduates participated in our new Project “Youth Leaders”.
• 4 graduates meetings were held with a total of 41 participants.
• 3 participants that had to re-take their final exams finally graduated from high school with the help of our personalized mentoring.
• 69 NGOs, universities and fcompanies worked together with the Graduates´ Network to provide low income Argentine youth with job opportunities, employment training and education resources.

Like us, was one of your New Years resolutions to do a good deed for someone else? Now you can! Help us keep our New Year’s resolutions for 2012 and keep yours to give back by supporting us or by spreading the word  to your friends about the life-changing work we do today!

Thanks for making it possible for low income Argentine youth to get jobs and further their education this year!

María and Teresa – Cimientos Graduates Network Team