Help vulnerable Argentine students finish college

November 2021

The next 100

I like to think of Fundación Integrar as an F1 racing team. When the student crosses the finishing line we celebrate his or her graduation, but behind these highly driven, ambitious and promising young professionals, there is a proud team. In addition to Integrar staff, there are tutors, mentors, and support teachers. And of course, nothing is possible without our donors -individuals, companies, and corporations- who have found in Fundación Integrar the strategic ally to help them make this world a better place.

There is something special about round numbers: we think of them as a threshold worth celebrating in a special way, a frontier that divides things that will never be the same. Last month we hit one of these milestones: María de los Ángeles is our 100th graduate.

She was born and raised in Ciudad Oculta, an overcrowded shantytown of 30,000 people. She grew up with her mother and 2 sisters and started working when she was 10 years old, selling goods at a local fair. Later on, as she was a good student, she started tutoring children in her neighborhood. María was the first in her family to finish high school and she decided she wanted to be a teacher. Because of COVID, graduation took her longer than expected: there were health issues in her family, the internet connection was very bad, and she had to wait to do the in-person training.  However, that was not a wasted time: during the long months of lockdown, she taught her mother to read and write. In August, María was finally able to graduate. 

It has been a privilege to share her pride and that of each of our graduates. 100 is a small number that doesn't change the world, but these 100 lives were changed beyond recognition by education. 

Programming as an instrument of mass empowerment

If you agree with us that education is the closest thing to magic, then you´ll probably share our enthusiasm about technology. It has been said that in the near future 9 out of 10 jobs will require digital skills, and the workforce is trying to adjust to a demand that grows exponentially. 

The IT industry in Argentina is experiencing the same ever-growing demand as in the rest of the world, and the need for skilled workers is extremely high. This boom is an extraordinary opportunity, especially for young adults who have an affinity with technology. However, if they lack the necessary resources to acquire technical skills and training, they can do little more than just like and share.

Argentina is facing a severe economic and political crisis. Roughly 60 percent of children are living in poverty, and youth employment is 30 percent and is the highest in the Latinamerican region: 3 out of 10 are jobless and 5 have an informal job.

As we head towards the end of the academic year, here in Argentina, November is the month to apply to our 2022 scholarship Program.  This year is special because we are launching IntegrarTEC, a scholarship specifically aimed at those interested in programming. We expect the next 100 graduates to have the digital skills that will enable them to rise out of poverty and be able to be the drivers of change in their communities by encouraging others to embrace technology-related courses.

The boom in technology is an extraordinary opportunity, it might very well be the educational magic wand we were all dreaming off. Please support this new project: https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/programming-to-help-argentinean-low-income-youth/