This project will help purchase equipment and supplies for Nicaragua Children's Friendship Committee's carpentry program to provide vocational training and academic tutoring to high-risk adolescent boys in Leon, Nicaragua.
The carpentry students live in a urban community plagued by poverty, gangs, and drugs. Students face several barriers to improving their lives: 1) lack of opportunities for work and to learn social skills; 2) economic pressure to drop out of school to help their single-parent mothers, mostly food vendors; and 3) difficulty in finishing school because the under-resourced and overcrowded schools do not provide academic support or guidance.
Through NCFC's carpentry program, the boys learn the trade, are provided with academic tutoring to finish their high school education, learn computer skills, and develop skills such as communication, teamwork, and accountability. NCFC's male teachers fill the void in student's lives for positive male role models. After completion of the apprenticeship program, some boys join the carpentry cooperative and repair wicker furniture, an artisan craft, and make wooden furniture to earn income.
The project will serve approximately 20 students per year, allowing them to rise out of poverty by equipping them with employment and personal skills to complete secondary education, obtain employment, and study other trades or fields. The program has an excellent track record of improving the standard of living of its graduates and their families.
