Partner Organizations and Campaigns
Read on to learn about a portion of FESAC Nogales's associates on both sides of the border. FESAC works with 140+ partner organizations in the borderlands region of Nogales.
The following content was prepared by FESAC Intern Catherine Born.
Teachers and Tablets Campaign
To support children’s education at the border, FESAC Nogales has partnered with two nonprofit organizations, Deijuven and Casa de Misericordia. These NGOs have established educational programs that provide the necessary resources (wifi, educators, extracurriculars, etc.) to children in this border community. The pandemic closed Mexican schools for the 2020-2021 academic year thus denying students access to education. The funds raised were used to hire more educators and purchase tablets to support virtual learning.
Border Community Alliance (BCA)
The Border Community Alliance (BCA), FESAC’s U.S.-based partner organization, is a nonprofit that seeks to build a bridge across the border community in the U.S. and Mexico and promote a cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of the U.S.-Mexico border through education, collaboration, cultural exchange, and grassroots NGO social investment. In this spirit, they offer regular cross-border tours, a yearly forum with classes to celebrate the cultural diversity of the US-Mexico border, and an internship program for students to work directly in border communities. Through their work, BCA has borne witness to the resiliency, self-sufficiency, and creativity of the border communities.
Border Youth Tennis Exchange (BYTE)
The Border Youth Tennis Exchange (BYTE) is a nonprofit organization focused on youth development and provides both tennis classes and academic courses to children on both sides of the border in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and Nogales, Arizona. BYTE is the only program in the United States Tennis Association’s National Junior Tennis & Learning network that operates transnationally and strives to be a leader in sports-based diplomacy.
Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones (CMTN)
Casa de la Misericordia y de Todas las Naciones is a shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico that serves asylum-seeking individuals and families as well as single mothers and children. In September of 2020, they launched an educational program for children of migrants and asylum-seekers, including in-person instruction and tutoring for the children staying at the shelter. The curriculum includes Spanish, mathematics, natural sciences, geography, physical education, and Sign Language.
Manitas Que Hablan
Manitas que Hablan IAP was created by parents and families seeking opportunities for the social integration of hearing-impaired youth. Having experienced the rejection of their children by public schools, these families formed a community that empowers hearing-impaired youth to achieve long-term success, encouraging and supporting their academic and professional development. Central to their mission is inspiring youth and recognizing their right to education and personal success. FESAC Nogales and Manitas que Hablan have a long-standing relationship that has encouraged students and their families to succeed in a variety of academic and professional settings.
San Juan Bosco Shelter
Gilda and Juan Francisco Loureiro founded the Juan Bosco Migrant shelter in Nogales, Sonora in 1982 to address the human suffering they witnessed among the migrants who passed through their town. Nearly 40 years later, without having closed for even one day, over 1 million people have passed through the shelter on their way to or from the U.S. There, they have access to warm meals, showers, compassion, and a bed that, pre-pandemic, they could occupy for up to three nights. FESAC assists with the coordination of providing resources to partner organizations such as the San Juan Bosco Shelter.
ARSOBO
ARSOBO (ARizona SOnora BOrder Projects for Inclusion) is a nonprofit organization that manufactures all-terrain wheelchairs, prosthesis, and orthotics and distributes them to the public and those in need, regardless of their financial resources. The devices are made by individuals who use the same equipment. In addition, ARSOBO also operates a Hearing Health clinic that diagnoses hearing impairments in adults and children and provides them with low-cost hearing aids.
Deijuven
Deijuven is a community center dedicated to providing educational opportunities to Nogales children and youth. Deijuven offers extracurricular courses such as workshops, classes, sports, as well as youth mentoring, tutoring, and education, and aims to support young people in Nogales in reaching their full potential as well as being agents in their own development and growth.
Fundación Esposos Rodríguez (FER)
For 75 years, Fundación Esposos Rodríguez (FER) has supported the education of Sonoran youth. FER was founded by Abelardo L. Rodriguez and his wife, Aída S. Rodriguez to meet the needs of under-resourced youth in the Sonoran region. In 2020, their first year of granting, they gave 2,551 scholarships at the Bachelor and Master levels and this spring, $20,000 for scholarships were donated to the program by a supporting US corporation through FESAC. FESAC Executive Director Alma Cota de Yanez noted that: “this is a first-time collaboration between FESAC and FER. It will encourage cross border philanthropic collaboration.”
Agencia para el Tratamiento Integral de la Conducta (ATIC)
Agencia para el Tratamiento Integral de la Conducta (ATIC) is a nonprofit organization in Nogales that provides continued online education and training for children with behavioral difficulties and their families. Many of the children that ATIC serves tend to have autism. ATIC’s mission is to support children with behavioral difficulties and their families by providing services and comprehensive treatment that help them in developing new behaviors. FESAC has supported ATIC through donations of supplies such as toys and balls as well as raising their visibility by organizing visits from American pediatricians as well as Stanford alumni.
Taller de Costura Guadalupana
El Taller de Costura Guadalupana hosts sewing workshops for a dedicated group of women in Nogales, Sonora. In September, the group was approached by ARSOBO, an organization that manufactures prosthetics and provides wheelchairs for disabled patients to assist in making adaptations to ARSOBO’s prosthetics. The group is now focused on manufacturing harnesses for prosthetic patients. This work requires technical expertise, as each prosthetic is a custom fit and the fabric is difficult to work with. The community center closed its doors during the pandemic, so the director and her small army of women work from home. They would like to have a salon of their own, access to materials, and the opportunity to expand their business.
Kino Border Initiative (KBI)
Founded in 2009, the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) is a binational, faith-based nonprofit organization focused in the area of migration. In addition to providing pastoral and social education to communities on both sides of the border, the KBI promotes humane border and immigration policy through direct humanitarian assistance to migrants and collaborates with organizations and networks engaged in policy research and advocacy. The KBI operates an Aid Center for Migrants, which provides two meals per day to migrant men, women, and children as well as first aid assistance and distributing essential items like clothing and toiletries. In addition, the KBI also runs Nazareth House, providing shelter to migrant women and children.