Reading Village

Juan is the perfect example of how our program leverages individual achievement to better entire communities. 
 
Juan entered our Leaders and Readers Program just this year. Not only does Juan fulfill the program requirements of leading 3 hours of reading activities with 50 children each week and attending leadership development workshops, but he has also taken the initiative to give back even more to his community. He helps neighboring school children with their homework, giving the children the support their parents can’t and reinforcing the importance of education by his example. No one asked him to do this. He simply felt compelled to do it. It’s a beautiful thing to watch a young leader rising.

Juan’s reaching out to neighboring children required clear values, a vision, self-esteem, empathy, relationship building, planning, a sense of purpose and a belief that he could make a difference. These are the types of skills and attitudes our youth leaders gain by participating in our program. In every way they are preparing to be the next generation of professionals, parents and leaders of their communities. 

Youth leadership development is the cornerstone of our co-creative work with our partner communities in Guatemala and one of the 10 human capital building blocks we are sharing with you this year as we celebrate our 10th year. 

During the entire month of June we will be raising funds through our 10th Anniversary Human Capital Campaign. A generous group of contributors has created a $50,000 pool of funds to match your contributions 100%. I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to multiply your impact in Guatemala and invest in youth leaders like Juan who are also giving very generously of themselves.

Thank you for your partnership in this important work,

Linda Smith
Founder & Executive Director, Reading Village