Title: Executive Director
Organization/Business: Homies Unidos
Website: http://homiesunidos.org/
“Alex is on the front lines of the immigration issue, stepping in as a bridge of hope for Central American youth seeking to escape violence and find their future.”
Karen Mack, Nominator
Make a donation to our conference
If you know a youth who will benefit from the resources that will be provided at the conference you can now register at:
More to come… email us if you would like to be a sponsor at asanchez@homiesunidos.org
Central American youth and families from various schools will benefit from the resource fair, health resources, educational workshops and cultural activities provided by organizations and the youth themselves.
We want to thank our sponsors and all who have supported our fund drive.
If you want to be a sponsor for the conference, please contact us for Sponsorship Opportunities.
In solidarity with Central American Refugees (CAR), Homies Unidos is putting together the fourth Central American Youth Leadership Conference. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee youth feel welcomed, to celebrate and promote Central American art and culture, provide health resources and on-the-spot referrals, facilitate a legal resources workshop, showcase their stories and experiences, build a supportive community, and create opportunities for positive feedback and self-esteem-building.
The increasing numbers of CAR youth who are crossing the border seeking safety and refuge is not a new phenomenon. The first wave of unaccompanied minors came in the 1980’s fleeing the wars in Central America. Since then, there has been a steady flow, but only recently has there been a dramatic increase of CAR youth fleeing from a violence that has devastated thousands of families and has a direct impact on the city of Los Angeles.
The Department of Homeland Security estimated that in 2014 alone, 68,500 CAR youth entered the United States. Jurisdictions across the U.S. have, at varying levels, worked to prepare and coordinate their legal and service delivery systems to accommodate the waves of children. In 2015, there was a decline by 42% to 39,970. This was mostly because the U.S. requested Mexico to make an effort to stop the flow of immigrants from Central America. In the light of the U.S. elections in 2016, there has been an increase of 20,000 more than in 2015, to 59,692. In the first two months of 2017, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended 14,128 unaccompanied refugee minors.Los Angeles County has received 50% (10,741) Unaccompanied Children with local ‘sponsors’ since 2014. This number does not include those who are in detention, in foster care, were not apprehended at the border or those who are not currently in the legal system.
Moreover, with the recent decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and the Central American Minors (CAM) Parole program by the US, it has made this work more pertinent. In rescinding the CAM Parole program, the US government contradicts its efforts to provide access to legal migration for Central Americans, while further criminalizing the youth who have migrated. Through arbitrary designation of gang membership, CAR youth are denied refugee status which allows for their continued detention and ultimately deportation. Even though the 2002 Homeland Security Act mandates that unaccompanied minors have the right to legal representation, many youths still have no legal representation making detention and deportation more likely and put the lives of these minors at jeopardy upon return to their home countries. Our work focuses on providing access to resources for CAR youth to have legal representation as well as health and educational services and community building in one location.
With your support we will be able to:
MAKE YOUR DONATION
Homies Unidos started reaching out to schools and community service providers to refer CAR youth who needs mental health or legal services. As part of a preventive strategy we began implementing the National Compadres Network’s Joven Noble curriculum, character development and immigrant youth intergration program to provide a safe space where they can express themselves with indigenous traditional tools. Even though, with limited resources we have served over 158 youth in four different schools: Santee High, Hawthorne High, Hawkins High and L.A. River. Through this Conference we will address the need to bring youth from other schools where to a place where they can share experiences and be introduced to health and legal services providers among other resources.
CA Youth Conference Application 2018
Please give!
LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Notes for Information:
Event Organizer: Alex Sanchez- asanchez@homiesunidos.org
To reserve a ticket: vsmc@homiesunidos.org
Facebook Event page
Vos Sos Me Canto link to webpage: Vos Sos Mi Canto
Homies Unidos website: www.homiesunidos.org
Participating Collaborating Partner:
Central American Youth Leadership Conference
December 8, 2017
9AM-3:30PM
In solidarity with Central American Refugees (CAR), Homies Unidos is putting together the third Central American Youth Leadership Conference. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee youth feel welcomed, to celebrate and promote Central American art and culture, provide health resources and on-the-spot referrals, facilitate a legal resources workshop, showcase their stories and experiences, build a supportive community, and create opportunities for positive feedback and self-esteem-building.
Homies Unidos y la Asociación Salvadorena en Apoyo a Privados de Libertad en el Exterior los invita aprender el impacto de recientes cambios en sentencias para personas encarceladas. Vengan a oír experiencias de gente ex-encarcelada. Elisa Jurado de el salvador contara los recientes resultados éxitos de gente a a ganado su libertad y están integrados en sus comunidades en El Salvador.
Join us at 6:30 for a panel discussion with unaccompanied minors from Homies Unidos’ Central American Youth Council, who will talk about their experience. They will share their stories and work they are doing now to help others as they integrate into our community, schools and homes.
You can help us reach our goal
In solidarity with Central American Refugees (CAR), Homies Unidos is proposing to put together the first locally-accessible Central American Young Women Project. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee young women feel welcomed, provide health resources and on-the-spot referrals, build a supportive community, and create opportunities for positive feedback and self-esteem-building.
Our Pitch
Homies Unidos is grateful and proud of being part of our community achievements, we have done so much with your support which its been vital, without the Central American Youth Council we would not have done this. Although we are gaining momentum in some communities of Los Angeles, there is still a stronger need to empower young indigenous women in South Central, Westlake and Pico-Union.
Central American Young Women are asking for space for/by/with them, to flourish all their abilities, skills and accomplish their thousand times broken dreams due to unaccounted violence, abuse, that has prevented them to have a sense of identity and build together the needed popular power, to redefine a clear road to recovery, equality and unity within their own selves, families and communities. Frequently we indicate the unaccompanied minors’ epiphany, we have devoted considerate resources and hearts to support their cause to survive, progress and have a better future. Nevertheless, it is an endless road of challenges, we have realized that we are slowly making progress as a community by creating social services centralized for boys but not specific for young girls, which would bring awareness to gender, race, identity and cultural biases.
The Central American Young Women Project would map the road to self-awareness and women, cultural identity and origins, how to prevent violence and sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, lack of jobs, professional development and many other issues that ultimately rest on the hands and arms of the future women of our communities, women are essential and the soul of our communities’ strengths and weaknesses. The young women of today and the future women of tomorrow that have to have a specific space to pave the community recovery, healing and self-recognition of its potential, with the unquestionable gifts and contributions of the Young Women. They will go trough the Xinachtli curriculum for young women, the Youth Leadership Program and the II Central American Youth Leadership Conference, to eventually consolidate the Central American Youth Council in conjunction with the young men.
Share, like and tag @HIPGive and use the hashtag #GoMujeres
How We’ll Put Your Donations to Work
Homies Unidos is already doing the work with 7 girls out of 30 participants in two high schools, which is better this year in comparison with one from last year. But they are included within The Joven Noble curriculum, which is mostly for young boys. Regardless we achieve or not the whole goal, the funds will be focus in human investment, with the goal to compensate with stipends some of the most committed young women and Homies Unidos staff. They will have to reassess the needs, readapt the curriculum, build a proper work plan and implement the project starting this summer.
The major people contribution is getting the word out, sharing our campaign with all their social media and personal contacts.
With your monetary help, we’ll raise funds to continue helping unaccompanied minors integrate into their community, homes and schools. We will be able to remove tattoo of young man and women who now enjoy a better employment and have reduced the possibilities of being a target of violence or police harassment.
If you make a gift online today, we will be able to continue helping our community in stopping another cycle of violence and empower our members to become agents of change.
Homies Unidos started reaching out to schools and community service providers to refer CAR youth who needs mental health or legal services. As part of a preventive strategy we will begin implementing the National Compadres Network’s Xichatcli curriculum,Through this fundraiser we will address the needs of our young women where they can share experiences and be introduced to health and legal services providers among other resources.
Hispanics In Philanthropy Matching Program
$5,000 in Matching Funds on Tuesday, March 29th!
We will be offering the funds in 5 increments of $1,000 USD at the following times:
HIPGive-Go-Mujeres-International-Womens-Day-8HIPGive-Go-Mujeres-International-Womens-Day-1
The School of The Americas(SOA) Watch Vigil is held every year in November. This year, it is being held from November 21-23. Thousands of individuals come together at the gates of the SOA and commemorate martyrs in
Latin America who lost their lives; such as the Jesuit priests in El Salvador and thousands of Guatemalan indigenous people due to training of Latin American military battalions trained by the U.S. SOA in Columbus, Georgia. Through our presence at this vigil, Homies Unidos members will learn to be advocates for Human Rights, hear from survivors of torture, and meet courage’s men and women who have been fighting to stop militarization in Central America during the 1980s. They will take part in a panel to speak of their ordeal as unaccompanied minors and the connection of U.S. continued involvement in destabilizing of the region.
Meet Jonathan at the School of the Americas Watch Vigil
These youth also took part of our Joven Noble rites of passage program and the Youth Leadership Training during the summer. They were the main organizer of the Central American Youth Leadership Conference this past September 19th. They are now forming the Central American Youth Council in which they will be working to address issues of Central American youth.
This is Homies Unidos 2nd participation of the vigil; in 2014 we took three youth. We drove back and stopped in different places to speak with community organizer working in labor issues in New Orleans, Immigrant issues in Arizona. Daniela Ojeda, one of the past participants, will be educating the new participants on her experience and will be join in us. Click to learn more
Central American Youth Leadership Conference
September 19, 2015
9AM-5PM
Central American Youth Speak at la Fiesta Juliana in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles
If you know a youth who will benefit from the resources that will be provided at the conference you can now register at:
Youth must register to receive a free lunch, t-shirt and event bag at the event
More to come… email us if you would like to be a sponsor at pguadron@homiesunidos.org
Central American youth and families from various schools will benefit from the resource fair, health resources, educational workshops and cultural activities provided by organizations and the youth themselves.
We want to thank HIPGive and all who have supported our fund drive.
If you want to be a sponsor for the conference, please contact us for
In solidarity with Central American Refugees (CAR), Homies Unidos is proposing to put together the first locally-accessible Central American Youth Leadership Conference. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee youth feel welcomed, to celebrate and promote Central American art and culture, provide health resources and on-the-spot referrals, facilitate a legal resources workshop, showcase their stories and experiences, build a supportive community, and create opportunities for positive feedback and self-esteem-building.
MAKE YOUR DONATION
Homies Unidos started reaching out to schools and community service providers to refer CAR youth who needs mental health or legal services. As part of a preventive strategy we began implementing the National Compadres Network’s Joven Noble curriculum, character development program to provide a safe space where they can express themselves with indigenous traditional tools. Even though, with limited resources we have served over 58 youth in four different schools: Santee High, Hawthorne High, Hawkins High and L.A. River. Through this Conference we will address the need to bring youth from other schools where to a place where they can share experiences and be introduced to health and legal services providers among other resources.
Please give!
LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Participating Collaborating Partner:
More to come… email us if you would like to be a sponsor at pguadron@homiesunidos.org
In solidarity with Central American Refugees (CAR), Homies Unidos is proposing to put together the first locally-accessible Central American Youth Conference. The main purpose will be to ensure that these refugee youth feel welcomed, to celebrate and promote Central American art and culture, provide health resources and on-the-spot referrals, facilitate a legal resources workshop, showcase their stories and experiences, build a supportive community, and create opportunities for positive feedback and self-esteem-building. 
With your support we will be able to:
Homies Unidos started reaching out to schools and community service providers to refer CAR youth who needs mental health or legal services. As part of a preventive strategy we began implementing the National Compadres Network’s Joven Noble curriculum, character development program to provide a safe space where they can express themselves with indigenous traditional tools. Even though, with limited resources we have served over 58 youth in four different schools: Santee High, Hawthorne High, Hawkins High and L.A. River. Through this Conference we will address the need to bring youth from other schools where to a place where they can share experiences and be introduced to health and legal services providers among other resources.
Up to $5,000
in matching funds
Firs Hour $2,500 June 9th during 12:00-4:00 PM PT (3:00-7:00 ET)
Second Hour $2,500 July 9th 12:00-4:00 PM PT (3:00-7:00 PM ET)
The two organizations that present the most creative and compelling
Crowdfunding projects
The organization with the greatest cumulative social media activity throughout the contest:
Greatest Number of Facebook Likes or Shares
Number of Posts
In order to win the matching funds donors and supporters must always tag
@HIPGive and use the hashtag #HIPGive2HEALTH.
Please give!
LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!
Participating Collaborating Partner, more to come: 
