ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

Recent News

At it's meeting of April 12th, Los Amigos approved a motion to expand its services to the community to include economic development initiatives and to form an Economic Development Committee that will initially be led by Agneta Dyck, Marilyn Miller, Piedad Ayón Velasco and Laura Aguilar - the Executive of the Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative, which was formerly known as Martes Women.

Jaltemba Economic Development Initiative was formed in response to an awareness of apparent and increasing poverty in the Jaltemba Bay area. The group's research clearly showed that there was no structured approach to economic development for this region. They decided to focus on socio-economic projects that would address both poverty and the reasons for poverty, providing a long-term, sustainable solution. They also decided that their primary focus would be jobs for women, especially as they learned of the large number of single mothers and the high rate of unemployment among women. By impacting this, we felt that a project could significantly raise the social and economic profile of the community. Their research also suggested that a focus on agri-business would benefit the entire region.

The goal of the Economic Development Committee is to create employment by attracting for-profit corporations, non-profit ventures, government grants or a combination of the three, that would create year-round job opportunities for women and their families.

Planning is already underway for the group's initial project - the production of mango salsa. The project is being made possible through the generous donation of the Xaltemba restaurant's kitchen facilities through the summer and it is hoped that the project will create four jobs.

Los Amigos de
La Peñita SCHOLARSHIPS
2010 - 2011
 info here