FUNDACIONPODERJOVEN.ORG

Our most important achievement during 2009 was the inauguration of our second social enterprise in April: The Reece Moto Repair and Training Center. The Center was created to meet the following objectives: 1) generate funds to help covering the costs of the social programs and contribute to our vision of becoming sustainable 2) provide technical training to the older children, graduates of the social programs Casa Karah and Casa Maren, for better job opportunities in the future.

SOCIAL PROGRAMS

Although this social enterprise has not yet produced revenues for the social programs, we expect that it could generate as much as USD 10,000 per year after 2010. Technical training to older children in the social program, on the other hand, started in October 2009 and continues to date.

During 2009, Poder Joven Foundation continued its social programs Casa Karah y Casa Maren.  We served a total of 194 children between the ages of 3 and 14.

The following are some figures that reflect the impact of our work:

1.    We provided 190 meals per day, which represented 68% of the nutritional needs of children served.
2.    We enrolled 83 children in the local school; 90% of which passed to the next grade in 2010.
3.    We offered 75 educative workshops related to the following major topics: i) definition of life prospective and goals, ii) sexual education, iii) improvement of social behavior, and iv) prevention of bad habits and vices.  
4.    We reported 14 cases of children mistreatment and abuse to the local authorities.
5.    We remitted 27 children to medical treatment; 25 children are already cured and 2 children are still under treatment.
6.    We obtained federal identification documents for 54 children and enrolled 21 children to the federal health system.

RECYCLING CENTER

The global financial crisis also affected this social enterprise negatively, which translated into USD $3282 of losses during 2009. This is in contrast to 2008 in which the recycling center produced revenues to cover 19% of the operative costs of the social programs Casa Karah and Casa Maren.

The amount of material commercialized decreased from 290 tons in 2008 to 120 tons in 2009. However, it is hoped that this commercial activity will improve again during 2010.