We Create Choices and Opportunities

The families that walk through our doors are often barefoot, living in one-room shacks made of cornstalks, with little access to medical care, clean water, basic sanitation, education, or a liveable wage.

The people we serve were born without the choices that so many of us enjoy.  At Common Hope we work hard to create choices and opportunities.  While our work centers on a personal relationship with a sponsored student, we work with that student’s entire family who have access to our comprehensive and integrated programs.

Forming a Partnership

Once a family forms a partnership with us, we require them to participate in their own development process—beginning with their child staying in school. We believe that their participation preserves dignity and builds ownership.

With help from Common Hope’s social workers, the family identifies their challenges and sets goals for themselves. Their goals might include building a new house, taking a literacy class, getting family dental check-ups, and many more possibilities. The social worker then helps the individual family members connect with the right program or activity so that they can begin achieving those goals and improving their lives.

Our Philosophy

When we first began working with the poor, we didn’t start with a fully evolved philosophy. It developed through experience, and it continues to develop. Our common sense solutions normally begin with grand and idealistic ideas, which we adapt until they work in the harsh realities faced by the people we serve. Over time our philosophy has evolved and is based on the following tenets:

• We change the world one person at a time — Maybe we can’t save the world, but we can dramatically change the world of one person. When we do that, we have in fact changed the world. Just ask a child who has learned to read, or a family who has built a new home.
  
  
• Relationships are the best place to start — Human development works best when it happens in the context of personal relationships. We spend a great deal of time getting to know those we serve. We learn from them and they from us.
  
  
• Change happens through families — A child lives within a family system and can be best understood in that context. The child’s health depends on the health of the family system, therefore we work with the entire family.
  
  
• We take a holistic approach to human development — Our social workers help families create a plan tailored to their specific needs. We work simultaneously in many different areas, so that people can make real changes and improvements to their lives.
  
  
• Give people choices — Poor people don’t choose to be born into poverty, and if given a choice, they will choose to leave it. If we give people opportunity and choices, they will improve their lives.
  
  
• Dignity, not dependency — Although there are times when giving away food or medicine makes sense, permanent dependency does not. Requiring people to participate in their own development process preserves dignity and builds ownership.

What Makes Us Unique

Many organizations serve the poor, but there are aspects of our work and philosophy that make us unique and more successful:

• Personal contact with our families and supporters — A social worker is closely involved with each family to develop a specific plan, and we connect personally with individuals and groups who want to support our work, either through donating, volunteering, or visiting Guatemala.
  
  
• Our programs are comprehensive and integrated — We work with families to meet basic needs and foster self-sufficiency.
  
  
• We require participation — Those receiving help through Common Hope must participate in their own development process.
  
  
• We use funds responsibly and efficiently — Based on a 5-year average, 84% of funds go directly to programs and the people we serve.
  
  
• We are an island of stability in what is for many an unstable world — Our emphasis on long-term relationships.  Consistent support allows affiliated families to move beyond the day-to-day struggle in order to invest in their long-term development.

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