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- Offer an integrated program of community building, instruction, construction and repair projects, scholarships, and emergency and long-term assistance called comunidad Corazon
- Focus in Northern Baja, Mexico where the need is great, the safety net weakest, and where we can have maximum impact with one-day projects within the program structure.
- Concentrate on those communities where we can build and maintain consistent, long term, and expand partnership with the community so that the participants may learn that they can help themselves and their neighbors break the cycle of poverty.
- Continually search for new approaches and techniques to expand the scope of assistance offered
- Offer to as many people as possible, the exhilarating experience of direct, hands-on involvement with comunidad participants.
- Maintain offices, warehouses, tools, equipment, and a 99%-volunteer organizational and operational structure of leaders, workers, and sponsors to implement its mission.
- Operates as a non-denominational organization. We require no specific religious affiliation of either the comunidad participants or volunteers.
Thirty years ago, three Orange County residents felt a need to help the poor in several villages surrounding Tijuana. They provided food, clothing, basic supplies and spiritual help. In 1978 they officially formed Corazon as a nonprofit organization.
During the early years Corazon helped by meeting the immediate needs with food, clothing and shelter. Volunteers repaired some of the homes (actually shacks of pallets and cardboard) of the residents. This repairing quickly turned to building complete houses.
Over the next five years Corazon developed a turnkey construction system for a 12 x 20 house with a wood floor and foundation. Using this system, a volunteer sponsor group on a one-day contribution event could build a complete home for a family.
From 1983 to 1996, Corazon grew from building 8 houses a year to building 8 houses in a day. In 1995, the familia Corazon program was conceived and developed as an overall approach to help families escape poverty while building a stronger community.
In 2008 a three-year operational plan was adopted to provide the framework for the comunidad program and to coordinate all facets of Corazon. This plan was created to give us guidelines and goals for building community across borders.
Feed me today, and I'll be hungry tomorrow. Teach me today, and I can feed my family forever.
Today, Corazon has built over 900 new homes and repaired hundreds more. We have profoundly affected the lives of over 2,000 families, provided annual scholarships to thousands of students and have witnessed several of our students graduate from college. The comunidad program works as these students are returning to their villages to teach and help, giving back for what they have received.
Currently Corazon has over 280 students attending school from kindergarten to one studying for his Master's Degree! The Comunidad program is currently assisting over 600 families (2000+ individuals) in 6 communities in Baja California.
We at Corazon are encouraged by the progress of the families we have worked with and proud of the students achievements. With your help and support we can do even more. Please consider making Corazon a vital part of your life.
