Common Hope

MISSION STATEMENT   Common Hope promotes hope and opportunity in Guatemala by partnering with children, families, and communities who want to participate in a process of development to improve their lives through education, health care, housing, and family development. 

Common Hope's comprehensive, holistic model addresses insufficiencies in education, health care, housing and family development that prevent children from attending and staying in school.

As demonstrated for more than 30 years, these programs break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala through a partnership with families that preserves dignity, builds ownership in the process, and produces better results. The model creates the necessary supports for families to keep their children in school rather than going into the workforce as a child to supplement the family income. When a family is accepted into the program, Common Hope surrounds the family with opportunities that make school possible. Common Hope aids in the costs of attending school, provides access to health care, assists in finding and enhancing housing and delivers family development services, thus, eliminating the existing tension between a child’s education and the family’s most basic needs. 

Common Hope also invests in improving the quality of education that our students receive by partnering with public elementary schools in communities where our families live. Through a partnership with teachers and school principals, schools are implementing classroom management systems to create healthier, more productive learning environments. Our program provides training and resources for teachers to foster reading and literacy, and improve mathematics instruction to build stronger foundations for children to continue their learning throughout their school years.  

Common Hope has grown to serve more than 14,000 individuals in 27 communities in the Central Highlands of Guatemala through its family and school partnerships. More than 5,000 students benefit from our programs in education, and their families are building stronger, healthier lives.  

Common Hope proudly acknowledges that it is not an organization making hand-outs, but rather, a partnership of helping hands making a difference in Latin America. Thank you for being one of those helping hands!

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THE NEED Guatemala remains one of Latin America's poorest nations. Over 50 percent of Guatemalans struggle to earn a living above the poverty level. Educational opportunities in Guatemala are slim. Only 70 percent of children graduate from sixth grade, 32 percent from junior high, and a mere 18.6 percent from high school. With minimal education, young adults in Guatemala have insufficient training or education to find work that earns a livable wage. Choices for youth are thereby limited, and the cycle of poverty is repeated for another generation.