A handful of Esperanza graduates have done something pretty spectacular. They have taken an area that was riddled with robberies, shootings, and assaults…and turned it into the safest place in town. For those who don’t know them already, these young men were once part of a well-known gang. But they have transformed into community leaders […]
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When you meet Alexis Quintero and you hear his story, you get the feeling something really good is about to happen to your ceiling fan. Alexis was born in a neighborhood called Brookylncito, which, with its wooden houses and muddied intersections full of trash, was one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Panama City […]
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Some of you may have read The New York Times article entitled Panama City Rising, which features Esperanza graduate Nico and his bar La Vecindad: “In the early days of contemporary Panama, or 1999, Mr. Mercado was 16 and the head of the Hot Boys gang, which prowled the eastern blocks of Casco Viejo. There […]
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Upon completing Esperanza’s 10-week intervention program, some of our young graduates choose traditional labor insertion (working in local restaurants and hotels), whereas others (the more entrepreneurial-minded) prefer to start their own businesses via the Esperanza Social Venture Fund. This business-launch process involves a 3 week “incubator” circuit in which the graduate learns how to create […]
Tell me more...In the case of Josue James, that hustle could be interpreted quite literally. I’m sitting with Josue on the second floor of the Danilo Perez Foundation and he’s telling me, in no uncertain terms, that the hospital where he was born is a total mystery. From what he can remember, his early childhood story begins […]
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