La Fondita de Jesus in the Community

Distinguished Donors:

Greetings on behalf of Corporación La Fondita de Jesús' family. With great respect, we are reporting our achievements and challenges while providing services to vulnerable communities through the "La Fondita de Jesús en la Comunidad" (La Fondita de Jesus in the Community) program from January through April 2024.

During this quarter, our project delivered 16,317 service units to 1,707 unique individuals and families in 136 communities, from which 48 (35%) were impacted for the first time by our project. In other words, an average of 9.5 units of services per participant. These communities are located in the following 19 municipalities (24%) of Puerto Rico: Aibonito, Arecibo, Bayamón, Caguas, Canóvanas, Carolina, Cataño, Cayey, Culebra, Dorado, Guánica, Juncos, Loíza, Maricao, Naguabo, Sabana Grande, San Juan, Toa Baja, and Trujillo Alto.

Trying to keep you as informed as possible regarding the demographic descriptions of the people we provided services to during this period, the distribution per gender was as follows:

• Females = 65%
• Males = 35%

43% of the population served (n=732) were older adults (ages 60+), 10% (n=166) were children (ages 0-17), and 3% (n=48) were young adults (ages 18-24), all from vulnerable communities. We always point out that these individuals, families, and communities are at imminent risk of losing their homes, given their needs, life circumstances, and social determinants of health.

Workshops were developed and provided regarding the following topics:

• Racial Justice
• Healthy communication
• Storytelling
• Reading for children's rights and community involvement
• Public Safety
• Online services and research for older adults
• Basic use and management of a cell phone during emergencies for older adults
• The how-to of social networks for older adults
• Strategies to avoid loneliness and isolation
• Healthy relationships
• Homelessness criminalization
• Arthritis: its variants and prevention
• Respiratory diseases
• Monkey Pox
• Proper use of condoms
• Food as a method of preventing chronic diseases and benefits of vitamin C
• What are Sexually Transmitted Diseases?
• Physical self-care
• Caring for our skin
• Opioids
• What is a psychologist?

 Some of our most significant achievements during this period were as follows:

• During this period, we had the opportunity to impact 48 new communities.
• In general, the participation of community members continues to increase.
• During this period, we established an action plan with one of the San Juan communities (El Gandul), which involved rehabilitating a space in their community center, developing a hydroponic nursery, and creating a map on the accessibility of healthy foods in the community. This was successfully achieved with the support of students from Worchester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts, and the community participation of residents. In this process, several meetings and consultations were held with the community regarding the construction of the nursery and food security.
• We implemented a reading-writing project at the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and in the Sabana Seca community, together with the school community, parents/caregivers, and community leaders. During this period, bonds of trust and solidarity were established with the parties involved. Learning was stimulated through music, painting, poetry, and other strategies, and their early voice was encouraged. Through these workshops, children acquired skills of peaceful coexistence through a model that promotes the values of peace and conflict resolution.
• Individual and community needs of residents, particularly older adults, have been identified and attended to, and support has been provided in paying arrears of rent and utilities, as well as basic necessities, searching for documents, and referrals to essential services, among other pressing needs. This has facilitated access to services for people in marginalized communities.
• During this period, we continued to offer workshops to older adults on using technology to reduce isolation and loneliness. The implementation of these workshops has allowed us to reaffirm the need for older adults to expand their knowledge about the essential use of electronic devices, specifically cell phones, as well as the search for online services and social networks to promote their social integration. The creation of the workshops has been strategically thought out and adapted to this population. These are taught in simple language and using the participants' technological equipment so they can replicate it in their homes. Through these workshops, we have managed to increase the knowledge of this population in the use of cell phones and provide a space where people feel accompanied and not judged. This has allowed us to generate confidence in the participants and promote a safe space that encourages the integration of all people, making it easier for them to continue attending the following workshops and integrate into the strategies we have identified to reduce isolation and loneliness.

Challenges:

• During this period, we had challenges establishing relationships with schools in the municipality of Toa Baja for the 'Todos a Leer' project. This implied that we did the process in reverse to what we had planned, entering through the community, which made it difficult for the school context to participate. However, the children remained, even though not all parents attended the activities.
• We continue to face the problem of gentrification and displacement, as it puts the permanence and quality of life of residents in the community at risk. At the same time, the risk of marginalized and vulnerable populations experiencing the phenomenon of homelessness increases, which implies a more significant demand for services and the deterioration of people in their individual and collective character.
• We have identified that one of the significant challenges in serving the elderly population is the slow response of government agencies. This is particularly true when addressing insecure and unstable housing situations in communities is necessary. Unfortunately, we increasingly find older adults alone in their homes and need to be moved from their spaces; however, housing projects are costly, and agencies do not guarantee they can provide the support people require.
• Another challenge we continue to face is food insecurity. During these last few months, we have received a high volume of calls and requests from community leaders to provide food purchases since many individuals/families do not have sufficient resources to cover all their basic needs.
• We continue to face challenges with the migration of essential services to the digital world since not all people have the skills to use and manage a computer or cell phone, which makes it difficult to access the internet and essential services such as, for example, coordination of appointments, document management, among others. On the other hand, not all people have electronic devices, which creates inequality and inaccessibility to the necessary basic services.

We are incredibly grateful to all of you, our social investors, who believe in our work and commitment and continue to allow us to impact the lives of so many people consistently! Should you need additional information or have any questions regarding this report, please do not hesitate to contact us through the GlobalGiving Foundation. Thank you!

Links:

• Our web page
• We are La Fondita de Jesus
• Building communities through La Fondita!