SCHOLARSHIP PROJECT FOR STUDENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY OF SANTA CECILIA, SAN SALVADOR. I. IDENTIFICATION OF THE INSTITUTION 1.

NAME: FUNDACION HERMANO MERCEDES RUIZ (FUNDAHMER)

2.

ADDRESS: AV. RIO AMAZONAS #4, COL. JARDINES DE GUADALUPE, ANTIGUO CUSCATLÁN, LA LIBERTAD.

3.

POSTAL ADDRESS: CENTRO DE GOBIERNO, APARTADO POSTAL 3372, SAN SALVADOR.

4.

E-MAIL: [email protected]

5.

TELEPHONE / FAX: (503) 2243 2126 / (503) 2257 7987

6.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: ARMANDO MARQUEZ OCHOA

7.

PROJECT MANAGER: JOSÉ GÓMEZ MARTÍNEZ

8.

FUNDAHMER’S HISTORY:

The Foundation Hermano Mercedes Ruíz (FUNDAHMER) is a non-profit organization, officially registered in the El Salvadoran National Directory on August 25, 2000. FUNDAHMER grew out of the Ecclesial Base Communities in El Salvador (CEBES) as an instrument of service to those communities. CEBES has been involved in the development of El Salvador’s poorest communities for the last 20 years. The impoverished of El Salvador have endured decades of low economic growth, environmental degradation, a 14 year civil war, an unprecedented number of natural catastrophes, and the brutal assassination of several prominent supporters of their cause. Therefore, as a grass roots organization, FUNDAHMER works to promote the social, economic, and spiritual development of these communities while placing them as the front runners in their own formation. 9.

INSTITUTIONAL WORK POLICY:

FUNDAHMER supports human development initiatives, civil participation, and the rescuing of the environment. FUNDAHMER strives to end poverty and to help communities and individuals achieve their goals by fostering protagonists in their own development. We work to promote relationships of solidarity within the communities on a local, national, and international level. Together, through these relationships, we foster a more just and equal society. 10.

FUNDAHMER’S PROGRAMS:

To advance these communities’ social, economic, and spiritual development, FUNDAHMER works in five program areas: *Community Development and Sustainable Agriculture Program,

*Education Program, *Solidarity with the Poor Program, *Faith Formation Program, and *Self-Sufficiency Program. FUNDAHMER serves three departments in El Salvador: San Salvador, La Libertad, and Morazán. Throughout 50 communities in these departments we pay special attention to the development of adolescents and children, the promotion of women, the eradication of poverty and respect for the environment, national and international relationships through solidarity and the pursuit for a more just world, and theological formation through pastoral accompaniment.

II. PROJECT IDENTIFICATION: 1.

NAME: SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM AND YOUTH ORGANIZATION INITIATIVE FOR STUDENTS IN SANTA CECILIA, SAN SALVADOR

2.

EFFECTIVE PROPOSAL DATE: JUNE 2005

3.

PROPOSED CONTRIBUTION AMOUNT: $500

4.

GEOGRAPHICAL AREA COVERED: Santa Cecilia, San Salvador

5.

START AND END DATE: JUNE 2005 to NOVEMBER 2005

6.

PROPOSED FUNDING INSTITUTION: BOSTON COLLEGE, BOSTON, U.S.A.

III. PROJECT JUSTIFICATION: The community of Santa Cecilia is an economically, marginalized community in the heart of the capital city, San Salvador. The majority of its inhabitants emigrated from rural locations during the civil war of the 1980’s. Upon arriving to the capital, they set up makeshift homes and shanty towns on the municipal government’s land, struggling to find work and survive. Not only did the new settlers suffer from inadequate economic and infrastructural resources, but they also suffered from emotional turmoil, reliving the results of military atrocities day in and day out. At the present time, Santa Cecilia is composed of around 500 inhabitants. The majority of the population is composed of women, adolescents, and children. The totality of the population is of limited economic resources, living on less than $4 a day, due to the non-existence of workplaces in the community. The majority of the adults are unemployed, struggling to find steady or partial work. The adults that have found work, either work in factories or the informal economic market selling small goods and produce. In addition, the majority of the adults have less than a 6th or 7th grade education, thus barely allowing them the ability to read and write. The infrastructure situation of the community is well below the national average. Although most houses have running water and electricity, few are constructed with cement blocks and adequate roofs. Several houses are made of sheet metal and do not contain proper sanitary water closets. Furthermore, Santa Cecilia is experiencing a dangerous deterioration of the environment. The community is located on the edge of a gorge, thus marked as a community of high risk and destruction from natural

phenomenons. In addition, over the last few years, the municipal government has attempted to make the gorge, where Santa Cecilia lays, a garbage dump. However, progress is happening in Santa Cecilia. There is a community house where communal meetings are held, and where students can study. The community has created several committees, in which several young people participate. Those committees are a Dance Committee, a Cultural Committee, an Educational/Scholarship Committee, a Sports Committee, and a Pastoral Committee. Through these avenues the community members are becoming protagonists, fighting for their own social, educational, and spiritual development. Moreover, ADESCO, a community development organization has equally had programs that have benefited community members. Although Santa Cecilia is one of the poorest urban communities in the country, it is one of the most determined to foster human development and change.

IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 1.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE:

The general objective is to implement a student scholarship program, directed towards the children and adolescents of the community of Santa Cecilia. This program will help stimulate and elevate the academic and organizational level of the youth, thus fostering human development and future protagonists. 2.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: * To provide a monthly economic stipend to children and adolescent students of the Santa Cecilia Community, allowing them to continue their academic studies and educational endeavors. * To promote the organization and participation of children and adolescents in scholastic and community events, allowing them to take an active role in the development of their community on social, economic, and spiritual levels. * To promote the creation of youth seminars that focus on cultural, educational, athletic, economic, and social issues. Through an interchange of experiences, children and adolescent students will harness a critical and shared consciousness on issues pertaining to their and the community’s development. * To develop a continual relationship between the Sponsor Community of Boston College and respective scholarship sponsors in Boston, U.S.A. Through letters, drawings, community news, and visits, children and adolescent students will have an opportunity to learn and grow from an international relationship. This relationship will provide educational, emotional, and spiritual support, thus contributing to their human development.

3.

MEANS FOR ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES: * Provide 18 scholarships to qualified children or adolescent students during the period of June 2005 to November 2005. * Evaluate the academic performance of the scholarship recipients each trimester.

* Hold two informative and interchange meetings with the parents of the scholarship recipients. * Maintain an organized “Youth Board Committee” of the scholarship recipients, dedicated to maintaining communication between the Committee and the Support Community. * Require all scholarship recipients to maintain at least a minimal, direct communication with their respective Support Community and scholarship sponsor via letters, phone calls, cards, drawings, community news, etc. * Hold two youth seminars on social, economic, and spiritual issues that affect them and their community. (i.e. environmental preservation, AIDS, gangs, culture) * Maintain a monthly meeting with the scholarship recipients to discuss the benefits and challenges to their education. * Foster at least one Interchange between scholarship recipients from Santa Cecilia and other scholarship recipients from the department of Morazán. * Participate in the commemorative activities of Salvadoran martyrs like Fr. Octavio Ortiz, Monsignor Romero, the Jesuit priests of the UCA, the people of El Mozote, and others during the civil war. 4.

BENEFICIARIES OF THE PROGRAM:

The direct beneficiaries of the scholarship program will be 18 qualified children or adolescent students who are currently studying in their first cycle, second cycle, third cycle, high school, or the university level. Indirectly, this program will benefit approximately 150 individuals, whom are family members of all the direct beneficiaries. The families will realize the importance of education through the achievements and participation of these scholarship recipients, while at the same time using the available financial resources for other family and community needs. 5.

METHODOLOGY OF THE PROGRAM:

* Application process and interviewing of the applicants and parents: In this first stage, we will rely on the support from the community’s Scholarship Committee, who will be in charge of distributing and receiving the application materials. They will be in charge of preparing the list of children who will be studying from kindergarten to University studies for the 2005 school year, and who have received scholarships in the past. Since there are no new spaces available for more students in 2005, the application process will be a closed initiative, only involving those students who have previously received a scholarship. Each past scholarship recipient will be asked to write an application, detailing why they deserve a scholarship opportunity. Furthermore, each student will be asked to demonstrate their past participation in community events, committees, and projects. In addition, students will be asked to show their high academic performance for all classes throughout the year, at least an average of 7 on the grade scale of 1 – 10. These three requisites of application, involvement, and high academic excellence will produce the best and brightest students of the community who are at an economic disadvantage to attend school.

Soon after receiving all applications, demonstrations of community participation, and scholastic report cards, FUNDAHMER’s personnel along with the community’s Scholarship Committee, will interview the scholarship applicants and their parents. A socioeconomic survey will be completed in order to determine if each applicant still faces great economic difficulties that would otherwise hinder their educational opportunity. In this interview, both parents and students will be informed of the commitments they would acquire if selected as a scholarship recipient. *Scholarship Program Implementation: Acting in a participatory methodology, the key ingredient to the success of the scholarship program’s implementation is community participation. For that reason, a Scholarship Committee of the community has been established, and the board members of that committee are chosen during a general assembly of the community members. Furthermore, the scholarship recipients are organized into a committee, acting as a subset of the Scholarship Committee. The scholarship recipients will select one individual who will represent their cause before the Scholarship Committee. Furthermore, this individual will help schedule regular educational and informational meetings regarding the scholarship recipient’s progress, participation, and needs. During each scheduled meeting, the scholarships will be distributed and an educational or community topic will be discussed. Each month, the scholarship recipients will receive the amount of money corresponding to the given grade and based on the socioeconomic study performed during the application evaluation stage. The recipients will define the time and place of the meeting to receive funds with the Scholarship Committee and their elected representative. Furthermore, scholarship recipients will be required to participate in a variety of community events, projects, seminars, and committees. Being that there are several community committees already established (i.e. dance committee, cultural committee, environmental committee, pastoral committee), there is a plethora of choices for participation. In addition, scholarship recipients will be required to participate in a variety of youth or cultural events sponsored by FUNDAHMER and Ecclesial Base Communities. FUNDAHMER, along with the Scholarship Committee of the community, views direct communication between the Support Community, scholarship sponsors and scholarship recipients as vital to the mission of the program. This communication will foster an educational, social, and spiritual dialogue, allowing both parties to grow deeper in their relationship. Scholarship recipients are required to maintain at the very least a minimal communication with the Support Community and scholarship sponsors, displaying their gratitude and educational progress. * Program Evaluation: For the evaluation of academic performance, the scholars will provide their grades every three months to FUNDAHMER’s project manager, who will then review them. If the grades are not in accord to the required commitment, previously informed to the parents and students, a meeting will be scheduled with them. The purpose of the meeting will be to talk about grades, get to know any particular situation and stimulate him/her to improve their evaluation. If the low academic performance continues, the situation will be discussed with the Scholarship Committee and FUNDAHMER and the community will decide a course of action. Moreover, a report from FUNDAHMER of educational excellence should be sent at least once a year to the Support Community regarding each scholarship recipient’s progress. Scholarship Recipients and their parents are advised of the necessity to maintain an average score of 7 on a grade scale of 1-10 to continue receiving scholarship funds.

6.

SCHEDULED PROGRAM: Activities

Months 2004 No

Scholarship Application Process Interview students and parents Meeting with students and parents Funding for Scholarship Recipients Evaluation meeting with the Scholars and/or parents Organization of Workshops Theme Workshops Community Events, Committees, etc. Organization of Morazán interchange Youth interchange with Morazán students Participation in martyrs celebration activities Maintain communication with Boston College Support Community Evaluation of program

7.

De

Months 2005 Jan

Feb

Ma

Apr

Ma

Jun

Jul

Au

Sep

Oct

No

D

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X X

X

X X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X X X

X

X

X X

X

PROGRAM BUDGET:

Scholarship Funds for 18 Recipients for 2005 from Companionship Community, TWIG Australia ($1000) Scholarship Funds for 18 Recipients for 2005 from Sponsor Community, Boston College, U.S.A. ($454.50) Scholarship Funds for 18 Recipients for 2005 from Sponsor Community, Bellarmine High school, U.S.A. ($454.50) Two Thematic Workshops One Youth Interchange with Recipients in Morazán Honoraries for FUNDAHMER: To cover project manager costs, transportation and fuel costs, paperwork costs, bank costs, mailing and administrative costs, office costs, etc. TOTAL:

X

$1,909

$400 $800 $91

$3,200

*SEE ATTACHED SHEET FOR DETAILED BUDGET PROPOSAL SPECIFIC TO BOSTON COLLEGE’S CONTRIBUTION.

8. PROGRAM DIVISION OF ALL CONTRIBUTIONS: Contribution by TWIG, Australia for Scholarship Funds and FUNDAHMER Honoraries Contribution by Boston College, U.S.A. for Scholarship Funds and FUNDAHMER Honoraries Contribution by Bellarmine High School, U.S.A. for Scholarship Funds and FUNDAHMER Honoraries Contribution by another Support Community for Interchanges, Thematic Workshops Contribution by FUNDAHMER for Interchanges and Thematic Workshops TOTAL:

$1,000 $500

$500 $1,200

$3,200