Help marginalized Mexican children and teenagers

Dear GlobalGiver,

Imagine you started high school, but then life in one of the poorest threw you off track. A couple years later, you are 20 years old and you are committed to finishing high school. So you apply to the public “IEMS” High School Education Institute of Mexico City that accepts all types of youth who have fallen outside the system. They also offer a small stipend so that you can cover your basic expenses of food and clothing and focus on school.

You live in the densest municipality in the country, a place known for its extreme poverty and marginalization. Hand in hand, rates of cancers, diabetes and respiratory diseases are increasing. You want a healthy future, but you don´t know how to make it happen.

Ari is one such person. Over the last 4 months, he has participated in four workshop sessions, building skills to eat healthily and reduce excessive alcohol consumption. And to become an agent of change in his community. In the coming months, he will start replicating the workshop with his classmates, changing not just his life but that of his friends and peers.

At our year-end holiday party, Ari told us that he appreciates the workshops because he feels heard. He now knows how to take care of his health and he loves sharing with his family everything he has been learning. He told us that the workshop sessions are fun, that he learns not through listing to a boring lecture but through engaging in interactive activities. And in a city of so much violence, he feels like the other workshop participants and the Yo quiero Yo puedo facilitators are his family.

We will also be sharing evaluation results with you over the coming years, so that you have hard proof of the impact your donation is having. Know that you are enabling Ari to change his life!

With gratitude,

Shoshana

Dear GlobalGivers,

Over the last year and a half, we have shared with you our work in Ecatepec, one of the most difficult parts of the country, north of our office in Mexico City. Today, we want to take you to Iztapalapa, just south of our office and the most populous municipality of Mexico City. With 1.8 million people, it is the densest municipality in the country, and known for its marginalization. Hand in hand, rates of cancers, diabetes and respiratory diseases are increasing. 

But Iztapalapa is also home to countless youth and potential agents of change, and where we have just launched a new 3-year program. These youth have the future in their hands, but their behaviors and the environments in which they grow put their health at risk. It is estimated that more than half of all non-communicable disease deaths are associated with behaviors that began or were reinforced during adolescence.

So we are working with expert organizations from around the world, combining research and advocacy with on-the-ground activities to improve the health and quality of life of young people in Iztapalapa, and 3 more municipalities. Youth reduce smoking, the harmful use of alcohol, a poor diet and lack of exercise, all behaviors that can cause non-communicable diseases in their future.

We are committed to ensuring that young people have a voice in identifying their health needs, in planning and delivering solutions, and in innovation and experimentation to advance in practice. They are the peer educators of this program.

In the coming months, look out for updates from the field! We are excited to share with you the experiences of new peer educators and how they are changing Iztapalapa.

With gratitude,

Yo quiero Yo puedo