The state of Guanajuato has some of the highest migration rates to the United States and these can be traced directly to lack of jobs available to the population, especially in rural areas. In many communities, over 80% of the men spend some part of the year working in the United States in order to support their families in Mexico. The Fundacion Comunitaria del Bajio believes that the root of migration must be addressed through sustainable, community-led development. To do this, 4 unique, rural communities in the state of Guanajuato have been selected for a pilot sustainable development process. Each community has a different methodology and each will be tracked by Mexican university students in order to replicate the process effectively and scale it to communities all over Mexico.

The community of El Gusano, near Dolores Hidalgo, is 1 of the 4 communities. Many local women (and a few brave men) have organized themselves into a business co-operative that makes and sells embroideries to tourists in Dolores and also provides financial services to members. Their business is currently run from their backyards but they have bought land where they hope to build a “Centro Comunitario de Aprendizaje (CCA)” (Community Learning Center) to expand their business. The “Community Learning Center” is what Nourish International will provide the investment for and aims to provide the following:

• Incubator space to grow their business
• Computers with internet access to tap into world markets
• A library to foster reading habits in the youth
• Dormitories for visitors and eventually a hostel
• Telecommunication services for migrants

Perhaps the most exciting dimension to the project is the opportunity to work with the migrant community investment program “3 por 1” (or 3 for 1) that the Mexican government has started to increase community investment from migrants living abroad. The Federal, State and Municipal governments match every $1 in investment with $1 from their budgets, thereby increasing the investment by 3 ($10 + $10*3 =  $40). The partnership between the community of El Gusano and Nourish International will be the first of its kind in the “3 for 1” program, setting a new precedent for economic development in Mexico.

To promote, support and create projects that link the 3 sectors in society to give communities of Guanajuato the ability to take ownership of the development process thereby making it sustainable.

In the community of El Gusano, students will be involved in the following activities:

• Teaching basic computer skills to children and adults
• Developing education programs for children that take advantage of the new resources available
• Business consulting
• Website development
• Economic impact assessments through surveys

Additionally students will be able to work at any of the other 3 migrant communities to provide needed services like:

• English translation and education
• Business consulting and development
• Teaching basic computer skills

Students will also need to collaborate with migrant communities in the United States as well as university students across states and both countries.