Granada
Nicaragua
Granada is the oldest Spanish city in Nicaragua. The city’s architectural beauty and talented craftspeople attract international tourists, but poverty and underemployment are pervasive. Students attend public school for just four hours per day; most schools have inadequate supplies of books, computers, and materials needed for the arts and sciences. Our two educational projects— Quinta Los Chavalos and Escuelita Yo Puedo — employ professional Nicaraguan teachers who run programs serving low-income households.
El Porvenir Coffee Cooperative
Nicaragua
The El Porvenir Coffee Cooperative, nestled in the mountains of Chinandega in Northwest Nicaragua, is a worker-owned, certified-organic coffee farm. The cooperative’s 48 member families nurture a biologically rich agrosystem that produces coffee and food crops while creating habitat for wildlife, reducing soil erosion, and eliminating the risk of pesticide poisoning. For more than a decade, we have purchased coffee from El Porvenir according to Fair Trade principles, helping the cooperative to stay out of debt, replace aging coffee plants, build a health clinic and expand educational opportunities for young people.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
United States of America
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is home to our board members and U.S. staff. The former steel capital of the world, Pittsburgh is a “re-developing” city with an increasingly vibrant food scene emphasizing local farming and crafting. We collaborate with local businesses, schools, faith groups, organic farmers, non-profits, and university students to promote El Porvenir coffee; to raise funds for schools in Pittsburgh and Nicaragua; and to spark conversation around the challenges of building a global economy that puts people before profits.