Educate First-Generation Students in Honduras

Dear Friends of OYE:

Warmest greetings in the new year! 2015 was an incredible year for OYE, as we celebrated 10 years of empowering Honduran youth. And as if that wasn't enough to celebrate, we have some really amazing news to share with you!

Exactly two months ago at the White House, OYE received the 2015 International Spotlight Award of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards. First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award to OYE's representatives who flew to Washington for this incredible event: Executive Director Rocío Mendoza, OYE youth scholars Jefry Amaya and Claudia Pavón, and Development Coordinator Amanda Hall. OYE was the sole international program recognized among a dozen extraordinary national programs, all using art to engage at-risk youth.

What a remarkable recognition for OYE!

This holiday season, 23 young people have reached a milestone that over half of young Hondurans never reach: high school graduation. And equally exciting news: 22 of our graduates will be enrolling in the university next year with the support of our scholarship program.

In a country where over 50% of young people never finish high school and only 14% have access to higher education, 95% of OYE scholars complete high school and 90% of high school graduates continue on to university.

You make this work possible.

Since 2005, your support has provided hundreds of young poeple with the opportunity to finish high school and obtain access to higher education. They emerge as confident, skilled and motivated young adults who will contribute to building a positive future for all Hondurans, starting within their homes, schools and communities.

But OYE's transformative work lies not in the statistics, but in the personal stories of its youth.

Let's go back to Jefry. Raised by a single mother, Jefry is one of seven brothers and sisters. Despite the family's extremely harsh economic situation, his mother always kept Jefry and his siblings in school. In 2011,Jefry applied for and received an OYE scholarship, which eased the burden of his educational expenses. Today, Jefry is a second-year college student and the first person in his family's history to attend university.

In his words: "OYE is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. My family has limited resources and it is because of OYE that I was able to finish high school and continue studying at the university. I always think about what would have happened to me if I had never found OYE. It is most likely that I would have had to drop out of school to help provide for my family, maybe even leave Honduras. What I do know is that being a part of OYE has changed my life."

There are so many stories of resilience and hope like Jefry's; stories of youth staying in Honduras, confronting the turmoil that surrounds them and giving back to their communities.

Because of your generous and loyal support over the years, together with growing support within Honduras, we are pleased to say that our goal for 2016 is to offer 100 high school and university scholarships. (Just a reminder: For $500, you can provide a one-year high school scholarship; and for $650, a one-year university scholarship.)

With your help, we can reach and even surpass this number and ensure that disadvantaged, motivated youth are given the opportunity to discover their potential as leaders and pursue their education and their dreams. Can we continue to count on your support this year?

In appreciation,

Ana Luisa Ahern (Co-Founder)

Links:

• NAHYP Awards Profile of OYE
• Video: A Day in the Life of Jefry and Claudia
• Video: NAHYP Awards Ceremony at the White House

Dear Friends and Supporters,

When Justin Eldridge Otero, Ana Luisa Ahern and Jessica Mockrin started working with young Honduran students unable to continue their education due to poverty, they had no idea that their efforts would result in an organization that has endured and grown for ten years.

Since 2005, OYE has provided access to education, leadership development and community engagement opportunities to over 500 promising youth in El Progreso and its surrounding communities. No words can express how humbled and grateful we are for your confidence in our mission and the accomplishments of our youth scholars.

This year as we celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we reflect back on the youth whose lives have been and continue to be transformed by OYE.

Dunia was one of OYE’s first five scholarship recipients in 2005. When she was only 12 years old, she lost both of her parents to AIDS. Living out her remaining adolescent years in Copprome, a home for orphaned children in El Progreso, she had little hope of continuing her education upon graduating from high school. Through OYE’s support and working part-time to cover her living expenses, Dunia graduated from university in 2010 with a degree in Industrial Engineering. After a few years of employment elsewhere, she returned to El Progreso and to OYE in 2012 as our Programs Coordinator. Last year, she was selected by the Seattle International Foundation’s Central America and Mexico Youth Fund, as one of five Central American youth leaders, to head a sexual and reproductive health education project carried out by OYE to promote healthy lifestyles and gender equity among at-risk youth populations in El Progreso.

As Programs Coordinator, Dunia oversees OYE´s Participation and Community Engagement Programs, youth-ed programs designed to build stronger communities by providing a safe space for youth to engage with their peers, discover hidden talents, learn new skills, express themselves, cultivate creativity and build self-confidence. These programs, designed and led by select OYE scholars (youth coordinators), serve as OYE’s platform to reach out to and engage thousands of youth throughout the city through the arts, communications and sports.

Among OYE's Participation and Communication Programs is Arte La Calle. Since the beginning, the arts have been a crucial element of OYE's strategy in engaging and empowering youth. Arte La Calle creates a space for youth to develop artistically and express themselves and their reality through the visual, performing and media arts. This year, nearly 100 youth actively participate from week to week, but thousands more youth are impacted by the program’s diverse initiatives.

This year, OYE's programming in the arts and communications, dubbed Mi Voz Es Poder, was nominated for the International Spotlight Award of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, the United States' highest honor for out-of-school time arts and humanities programs that reach underserved youth. We are incredibly honored by this nomination and humbled by the generous support of our donors that make this program, and all of OYE's work, possible.

During the past year, we have made great strides in acquiring financial support from local businesses and institutions in an effort to achieve greater sustainability for OYE's programs, especially our scholarship program, and reach even more youth next year. While we are proud that increasing numbers of Hondurans are supporting their hometown youth, it isn’t enough. It is because of you that we have made it this far and your support remains indispensable as we move forward.

We’ve come so far in these past ten years and together we can continue our mission to educate and empower young Hondurans for years to come... Are you in?

In appreciation,
Amanda

Links:

• Official Website
• Program Spotlight: Arte La Calle (Video)
• 10th Anniversary Celebration (Video)