Si Se Puede Foundation was founded by Alberto Esparza, President and CEO of the organization in 1993, and became incorporated as a 501(c) (3), non-profit organization in 1998. The Si Se Puede Foundation is a prevention and advocacy program that encourages its participants to be stakeholders in their community. The youth based foundation utilizes three components for service provision, educational programming, community activities and advocacy, and recreational activities for youth. The organization focuses on school and community risk factors that cause delinquency and gang affiliation, negative behaviors in youth and detachment of family, school and community relationships.
The purpose of the program is to advocate non-violent conflict resolution amongst all youth regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or creed by increasing positive behaviors through community service, educational/recreational activities, and by encouraging parental involvement in the lives of their children through parent/teacher and community meetings.
The program’s mission statement is to build and expand upon community services that fouces on higher education, community and youth empowerment, leadership, community unity, and the reduction of youth violence.
The foundation provides services to low-income, predominately minority communities throughout the Cities of Chandler and Mesa. The students who participate in the program are predominately “Latino”, males and females between the ages of 6 to 18 years, who attend Title 1 schools and reside in Cities of Chandler and Mesa most at-risk communities and whose annual family income is less than $20,000 per year.
Some of the services provided include: After-school tutoring programs which focuses on reading and mathematics skills; Lego Robotics Program, Youth Soccer, Baile Folklorico, Adult English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, citizenship and GED classes, educational workshops and community and school classroom presentations that focus on parenting, life-skills and leadership.
