Odo Achievement Center
Education and Culture Subaward Recipient

Education and Culture subawardee, Odo Achievement Center, was featured in New Jersey's Essex News Daily! We're always happy to see our volunteers and partners recognized for their great work. 🌟

With the help of a grant from our Education and Culture Program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, Odo Achievement Center is teaching important life and leadership skills to teenagers of Haitian descent in New Jersey. Read more about the work they're doing in the Essex Daily article linked below.

Read the article here

El Salvador Chapter, Subaward Alum | San Salvador, El Salvador
Participación social juvenil por medio del arte (The Youth Social Participation through Art)

Implemented by the El Salvador Chapter, the Youth Social Participation through Art project supported urban art through the teaching of drawing, painting, percussion and batucada, theater, and animation, for low-income youth and adolescents from communities with a high rate of violence, in the Municipality of Soyapango, San Salvador. In partnership with 2 organizations and through 21 workshops, they reached 120 beneficiaries.

Curious about how to jumpstart your projects or exchanges with future funding opportunities with the Education and Culture program? Learn more by clicking the button below.

Education and Culture program

Paty Espinoza, Travel Grant Alum
La Paz, Bolivia to Texas, Utah, and Washington, D.C., United States

Patricia Espinoza Oretea visited seven (7) communities across three (3) states, connecting with 24 organizations. She got to know 32 people who have shared interests, with whom she plans to stay connected. During her trip, she learned how to negotiate effectively, how to present a project in a way that generates and raises interest, and how to handle situations of family breakdown.

As a follow-up, she will develop a project to help women who suffer domestic violence, where the objective would be to provide them with all the necessary tools so that they can break the cycle of violence and build healthy relationships.

Curious about how to jumpstart your projects or exchanges with future funding opportunities with the Education and Culture program? Learn more by clicking the button below.

Education and Culture program

A round of applause for Education and Culture's Subaward Grantees!

In March 2024, Partners of the Americas awarded five subawards to Partners Chapters and organizational members across the Western Hemisphere to support innovative solutions to community-based challenges.

The small grants range from USD $3,000 to USD $16,500 and support projects that promote community-centered waste management; enable youth to be STEM researchers; engage youth in leadership development; foster emotional and academic growth of young students; and empower underrepresented voices in Latin America through dance.

Read about each of these inspiring projects

Curious about how to jumpstart your projects or exchanges with future funding opportunities with the Education and Culture program? Learn more by clicking the button below.

Education and Culture program

Chapter:  Cochabamba, Bolivia & PartnersCampus San Simón, 

Location of the Grant:  Cochabamba, Bolivia

Duration:  9/6/21- 12/27/21 

Description of the Grant:  This program aims to develop a children's reading community with critical thinking, transformation, and active action in favor of environmental integrity, economic viability, and fair society. Through reading clubs and workshops for children, the program will consist of the six topics that will cover Human Rights, sustainable education, and sustainable lifestyles such as, gender roles, promoting people’s rights, and environmental protection. The program hopes to empower eighty children, fifty from the urban, and thirty children from the rural part of Cochabamba. The program will also organize and set up a reading space with their sustainable libraries in the Marquina Agrarian Union, specifically in Marquina's School and in the OTB Unión K'asa Huasa located in the southern part of the city, as well as carry out a campaign to collect books for sustainable libraries in the two communities. This program is essential due to the impact COVID-19 has had on the child population from Cochabamba. Due to the pandemic, classes and educational activities have been paused and although virtual education has been attempted, many students lack the proper technological resources to continue with their education. As inequality in Cochabamba is very marked in rural and urban communities, it is important to implement a program as this that will create a place where children can learn about their rights, learn about how to deal with social, biological, and economic conflicts through reading.  

Key Audience:  Fifty children who are 6 to 12 years old and with access internet from the urban community of Cochabamba. And thirty children in social vulnerability, who are 6 to 12 years old from the communities of Marquina, and the OTB Unión K'asa Huasa. 

Key Partners:  International Network of SDG Promoters, Celso Herbas Espinoza, Departmental Chamber of the Book of Cochabamba, Scientific Society of Students of Social Communication UMSS, PartnersCampus San Simón

Tags:  Education, Technology, Arts, Storytelling, Community Empowerment, Literacy, Early Literacy, Books

The program hopes to address these issues in the province of Huaraz, the northern region of Ancash in Peru. This is a community that has approximately 150 children, of which 15 attend the nearby school. The remaining Uchuyaco children either don’t go to school or need to travel to another community to attend primary school. Further, the school present has only three teachers to handle students in all grades from kindergarten through sixth grade. Through virtual technology, the program will train students from the National University Santiago Antunez de Mayola in practical teaching, leadership, and project design to better meet the needs of the community school.   

Key Audience:  Students and teachers of Provincia Huaraz, Region Ancash 

Key Partners:  (1) Universidad Nacional Mayor San Marcos; (2) Universidad Nacional Santiago Atunez de Mayolo; (3) Peru Chapter

Tags: Education, Technology, Workforce Development, Community Empowerment, Rural Education

The program will consist of six modules that include:

1. teacher as language coach;
2. barometer for the classroom’s social-emotional environment;
3. empowering students to take ownership of their learning;
4. how to motivate student success through practice;
5. teaching in the real world: using prior knowledge and cultural competency in the classroom;
6. increasing student speaking practice in primary, secondary, and adult programs.

This program will allow students and educators to gain access to meaningful cross-cultural experiences and become part of the global community through a peer to peer connection where they can practice their speaking skills. 

Key Audience : Students and educators in North Carolina and Cochabamba, Bolivia 

Key Partners:  North Carolina Chapter and Cochabamba Bolivia Chapter

Tags:  Education, Workforce Development, Technology, Community Empowerment  

The webinars, which will be also held once a month, will focus on literacy for early childhood educators. Potential topics include:

• The 6 Early Literacy Skills Children Need before Age 6,
• Stimulating & Stupendous Storytimes,
• Celebrating Diversity in Storytime,
• Anytime and Every Time,
• Music to my Ears (learning literacy through music),
• Powerful Puppets,
• Integrating Children’s Art with Children’s Literature, and
• Social Emotional Literacy through Storytime.

The webinars will be shown in both English and Spanish and include a translator when needed. The program will range between 69 to 95 participants from Paraguay and seven to eight from Kansas, as well as a Community of Practice guided by six to seven individuals from Paraguay and Kansas. The program hopes to develop a set of virtual learning opportunities for early childhood educators targeting teachers who serve children from lower income families in Paraguay. 

Key Audience:  Children from lower income families in Paraguay, Educators in both Paraguay and Kansas  

Key Partners: Comite Paraguay Kansas (CPK) and Lively Minds Consulting 

Tags:  Education, Literacy, Technology, Community Empowerment  

The project seeks to strengthen and motivate the 21st century skills of a total of 100 young students, 50 university youth between 18 and 25 years old (25 women and 25 men) and 50 school-aged students in their last two years of high school (25 women and 25 men) under the youth employment program. The program will encourage citizen participation and use of soft skills, under the “projects method” that will be evaluated upon the completion of the program by a qualified committee. Each student that presents a Social Impact project, will be able to finalize the Training Program and receive their certification. The project will support professional and personal training through educational workshops. Additionally, 10 students will receive partial study scholarships of 30-40% to the Universidad Tecnica Privada Cosmos. 

Key Audience:  The project will benefit outstanding low-income students from public schools from across national territory, from the ages of 15-17, 50% female and 50% male. The project will also benefit outstanding university students form different university across the national territory, ages between 18 and 25 years old. 50% female and 50% male. 

Key Partners:  Partners of the Americas Cochabamba Chapter/ Pearson / YLAI Alumni / AMCHAM Junior-Chamber of American Commerce / Empleabilidad Emprendedora / UNITEPC- Universidad Técnica Privada Cosmos / PartnersCampus San Simón 

Tags:  Education, Technology, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Community Empowerment  

Chapter:  Asociacion Companeros de las Americas Capitulo Suroccidente Colombiano 

Location of the Grant:  Cali, Colombia  

Duration:  1/18/2021 - 8/31/2021 

Description of the Grant:  "Los Tutores" (the tutors) educational platform is an initiative of the Fundación Educative Social Comunitaria, which seeks to strengthen process of teaching and learning in public educational institutions in Colombia. Its principal objective is to identify and evaluate online, generating reports with plans for academic improvement towards students and teachers from institutions in primary, secondary, vocational, and university levels. This program combines education with a focus towards the environment as we see an accelerated negative impact in ecosystems and the environment.

In the "Los Tutores—Truque Ambiental" project, five Environmental Education workshops will be developed, to train 777 of the best students in grades 9, 10, and 11 so that they can carry out protective interventions for the environment. The workshops will give them the tools to manage the environment in the zone where they live. The training is also given in a virtual manner that will have a direct impact on the student participants, their families, and on the surroundings in which the program takes place. In addition, personalized tutorials will be taught through the platforms, using tools such as: blackboard, shared notes, surveys, and meeting rooms to maintain contact with the students once a week. Sessions will be recorded and available for play-back later.

The project goals include: design the platform Aula Virtual Los Tutores, allowing it to be 100% operable for the low-income educational community of Cali; implement online tutorials, as a strategy to ensure that teachers involve learning, and strengthen computer skills of selected teachers and students to improve access to new technologies such as: virtual learning platforms, educational content, personal assessment and research. 

Key Audience:  The project has identified 777 youth with limited resources, between the ages of 14-18. 80% within the Afro descendent and Indigenous population, victims of the armed conflict who have been displaced in the Southwest of Colombia, and are students from 37 educational public institutions from the 22 boroughs and 15 villages in the target region.

Key Partners:  Chapter: Southwest Colombia-South Carolina 

Tags:  Youth, Students, Education, Technology, Environment, Professional Development, Community Empowerment  

Link to Project https://lostutores.co/

Location of the Grant:  Cartagena de Indias 

Duration:  1/18/2021 - 12/26/2021 

Description of the Grant:  Entrepreneurship for Future attempts to empower women, heads of household, who are victims of gender-based violence with entrepreneurship tools and comprehensive training of self so that they can develop skills of personal growth, and in turn help them to recognize themselves as facilitators to their development and economic independence. The program aims to train 50 women head of households and victims of gender-based violence in the three localities of Cartagena, Colombia, with tools for entrepreneurial economic development as well as psychosocial accompaniment and comprehensive self-help training. Women are placed in an educational and safe environment conducive to reflecting on self-care, self-esteem, autonomy, and sharing. The project takes into account multiple levels of intelligence, emotional intelligence, and differences in communication.  

Key Audience:  Women and victims of gender-based violence - The project will benefit 50 women heads of household that have been referenced as victims of gender-based violence in the city of Cartagena. 

Key Partners:  Partners Campus Uninúñez, Corporación Universitaria Rafael Núñez 

Tags:  Education, Students, Business, Entrepreneurship, workforce Development, Professional Development, Community Empowerment  

The project is divided into two sets of activities: 

1)  "Art as an instrument of prevention" will allow Uruguayan plastic artists and software developers to make a video audio art of 5 to 8 minutes in English and Spanish with information to be distributed among children and adolescents through the educational platforms and programs in Uruguay and Minnesota. 
2) "Art as Therapy" will focus on reaching victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence by presenting workshops to the Crime Victims Assistance Center and the non-profit named El Paso, which serves victims of trafficking and sexual abuse and to the Victims Unit of the Attorney General's Office and similar institutions in Minnesota. These classes will study illustration drawing and the various techniques, focusing on the participant's personal experience, facilitated in English and Spanish.

Key Audience:  The target population is people from Uruguay and Minnesota over 18 years of age, victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. 

Key Partners:  Judicial Branch and not-for-profit non-governmental organizations that receive and provide treatment to victims of domestic violence and child sexual abuse. Partners of the Americas Uruguay-Minnesota, committee of Vulnerable Populations and Committee of Art and Culture.  

Tags:  Arts, Youth, Education, Entrepreneurship, Community Empowerment  

Local Partner:  Fundacion FEDE 

Duration: 1/19/2021 - 3/20/2021 

Description of the Grant: The project seeks to generate opportunities of inclusion in the art-entrepreneurship field to young adults with different capacities and skills (Down Syndrome). The project included training and facilitation tools to 20 young adults (most with Down Syndrome) related to art (painting) and emotional intelligence as well as counseling to caregivers so they are able to engage these young adults in activities through which they can learn to function more independently. The Fundacion FEDE's serves individuals with special needs who are often excluded in Colombia from accessing opportunities that are pertinent to their success as individuals. The program seeks to address these issues of neglect in hopes of benefiting low-income young adults with special needs, 50% of which are women from vulnerable communities and neighborhoods in Barranquilla and other municipalities in Colombia. Following the completion of the program, participants will be able to sell their handcrafted art as a way for them to initiate themselves as entrepreneurs, all with the help of caregivers in their logistical activities such as, organizing the venue. In addition, Fundacion FEDE will follow-up communications with the caregivers, therapists, and young adult participants for at least one year after completing the program.  

Key Audience:  Caregivers, young adults with down syndrome 

Key Partners:  The Fundacion FEDE (a nonprofit organization) 

Tags:  Youth, Education, Art, Entrepreneurship, Community Empowerment  

The goals of the STEAM Team Project include: addressing several social problems such as food insecurity, underemployment, technological divide, needs for social inclusion, and community involvement through civic education. The goal is to create an innovative program, uplifting the communities in Nicaragua during these difficult and challenging times, promote intergenerational relationships by creating opportunities for people to learn from each other such as, young women with technology skills sharing their knowledge and expertise with technology and older women sharing their entrepreneurial and leadership skills, and further positive relationships between the United States and Nicaragua through involvement of alumni of U.W. exchange programs, Wisconsin volunteers and Nicaraguan STEAM TEAM Project participants.  

Key Audience:  Women and youth in Nicaragua  

Key Partners:  Collaborating Organizations include: Altrusa, INATEC, American Association of University Women, US Denton and Funded Transportation programs, WAHCE Organization in Wisconsin (WI Home & Community Educators), University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, Lions Club International, W/NP members in WI and Nicaragua. 

Tags:  Youth, Education, Workforce Development, Art, Technology