By Catalina Villamarin | Cooperation Professional
Greetings from Blanquizal!
In 2024, Makaia is thrilled to kick off the STEM Talents Incubator with a new group in the Blanquizal neighborhood in Medellin’s Comuna 13.Nestled in the hills surrounding Medellín, Blanquizal has faced significant challenges in the past. Poverty, violence, and limited opportunities plagued the community.In the 90’s and early 00’s, Comuna 13 withstood severe violence related to drug trafficking, guerrillas, and paramilitaries. Rival group conflicts turned the neighborhood into a war zone, making it unsafe to move freely and venture out at night. Its steep hills, narrow streets, and intricate network of staired alleys isolated access to and from the rest of the city, limiting livelihood prospects, leaving drug traffic and gangs as the only avenues for vulnerable youth to improve their circumstances.
As the city’s transformation has fostered community engagement through the revitalization of public spaces and connected its marginalized communities through sustainable transportation infrastructure, youth are looking into new opportunities for skilled and sustainable employment. However, as it happens throughout Colombia, Blanquizal’s youth graduate from high school without the minimum skills to access post-secondary education, or opportunities in the growing digital economy for which there is a shortage of skilled talent.
Makaia’s STEM Talents Incubator aims to bridge these educational gaps by improving STEM proficiency among disadvantaged youth. In 2023, 75% of the participants demonstrated substantial improvement across at least one of the three targeted competencies—numerical reasoning, critical thinking, and reading comprehension. Now, as 16 teenagers and youth ages 16 through 24 embark on this learning path, we are hopeful and thankful to have supporters like you, who have helped us bring the STEM Talents Incubator to Blanquizal, empowering and building bright futures for its youth.
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By Ingrid Espitia | Senior Project Coordinator
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