Meet Alternativ’s Newest Collaboration!

¡Conoce a la nueva colaboración de Alternativ!

Alternativ Global Entrepreneurs is bringing our Business Essentials Training and Mentorship Program to El Salvador. We’re proud to present our new partners in community empowerment, The Color Movement, an initiative of Alight, The Guardian Angel Movement, and Lero Studio.

*ON DAY 1 we received over $3,500 in funding and have since grown to $5,000 from individual supporters, as well as a match from the U.S. Department of State, bringing our total to $10,000!

Will you donate to help us reach our goal of $20,000 and bring education, opportunity, jobs, and enhanced community support structures to El Salvador? Click below or read on to learn more.

Introducing Leo, Co-Owner of Lero Studio and Color Movement Collaborator

El Salvador has a long history of violence where rival gangs control territories and threaten people who pass from side of time of town to another. NGOs, charities, and even grocers are at the mercy of these gangs, who control everything that goes in and out of the community, whether people, services or goods. Fortunately, Lero Studio and The Color Movement have the support of The Guardian Angel Movement (El Movimiento Ángel de la Guarda) and The Sisters who represent the entrance into the communities through these "safe spaces." Our aspiring entrepreneurs in the Popotlan and La Chacra regions are ready and motivated to get to work.

The El Salvador Team’s Story: Here, in these “safe spaces,” young parents are empowered. We promote new community led businesses such as gardening, fruit processing and a local restaurant that employ people in the community.

However, last year, abruptly, the community center was forced to close its doors to the public. Young parents receiving education and encouragement (often for the first time) were forced to suddenly stop their advancement. Kids who had found a safe and encouraging place were back home, or worse, out in the streets.

Even before COVID people in our communities just wanted a chance. A way to prosper amidst gang violence and high unemployment. They simply wanted skills that allowed them to get jobs and to be able to invest in their neighborhoods. As the lockdown persisted, unemployment continued to rise. As we seek to find a new normal, education and entrepreneurship are the keys to providing the jobs our community so desperately needs.

Now, what’s needed most is a formal business program like the Alternativ Business Essentials Training. Thanks to our introduction via a US Department of State sponsored fellowship program that brought Leo to the Alternativ Team, we can work together with The Color Movement, an initiative of Alight, to equip local community leaders like The Guardian Angel Movement and to make a long lasting impact with business training, mentorship, and support.

We know that this team is the right partner for Alternativ Global Entrepreneurs in 2021. Their networks will help bring the Alternativ Business Training and Mentorship program across El Salvador, Central America, and beyond. Their commitment to their communities will help ensure the success of their programs. And we want to be with them all the way. Our bilingual staff have been waiting patiently for the right groups to work with to jumpstart development and economic recovery in the region.

Who We Want to Empower: Our Goals in El Salvador

This project will maximize job opportunities starting with single mothers, struggling to provide for their families, as well as the aspiring young entrepreneurs championing new business initiatives pre COVID lockdowns. With support from the Color Movement and Hermana Conchi, the community matriarch and leader of the Guardian Angel Movement, and her local leadership team have already identified key community members who will immediately benefit from our support. We’ll train in the same community center spaces previously established so that these families can create, collaborate, give back, and thrive.

We need your help to break the cycle of violence that traps families in situations of social exclusion, economic dependence, exploitation, and unemployment.

How you can help

*Thanks to some incredible and generous donors, we’ve already completed Phase 1 and Phase 2!

Phase 1:

Training Supplies and Materials for our First Two Cohorts ………………………………………………………………………..…COMPLETED

Digital Train The Trainers and program development …………..……………………………………………..……………………….COMPLETED

Phase 2:

Translating and developing digital staff training programs in Spanish………………………………………………………....COMPLETED

Updating and refining existing community training curriculum in Spanish…………………………………………………COMPLETED

A LIVE two-day virtual staff training.……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….COMPLETED

Phase 3:

Community based training starts this Fall!

$1,000 - Provide micro-financing to graduates ready to start their businesses and put in action what they had learned

• $50 in low-interest financing to all those who complete their training and continue working with our team to launch their new business

• $100 grants to each of the three training graduates with the most developed business plan, actionable goals, and strategies for the immediate use of the investment

$2,000 - Fund ongoing development of local leaders and mentors

$2,000 - Travel to El Salvador to meet with existing and new community leaders and plan future programming

Phase 4:

$5,000 - Run a week long LIVE Train the Trainers and Community Empowerment Program, inviting new organizations to continue the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems across the country and the region

Now’s your chance to help provide new jobs and start new businesses in a new area of the world.

When we ask for your support, we don’t ask you to donate.

We ask for you to invest in new communities, jobs, and opportunity.

Our Biggest Fans and Project Supporters

Want to bring business training and empowerment to your community? Contact us at info@alternativproject.org.