In Vicente Guerrero, Mexico, communities have reported high rates of childhood disability, childhood cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer among the families of farm workers. 

On October 14-19, 2019, the Collaborative Health Initiative is taking 8 low-income students from Los Angeles to Baja Mexico to work alongside Mexican medical students finding out just how bad the problems are and working with local non-profit groups to develop sustainable solutions.

Will you help support a student to go?

Student lodging -                                                                          $350 for the week, per student.
Student transportation -                                                          $50
Student training costs -                                                             $100
Stipends for Mexican medical students -                       $100
Travel logistics                                                                               $1300
Advisory Board/Stakeholder Meeting (7/20)           ~$150 (Partially Funded)

For more details, read below:

The Collaborative Health Initiative/ Colaboración en iniciativa de salud (CHI/CIS), working in conjunction with Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles, ReachBaja, and the Anhelo Community Association of Vicente Guerrero, has four goals to improve the lives of people living in Baja, Mexico.

First: we train students - American college students and Mexican community health workers - to conduct community needs assessments in Baja, California.  The community assessment is designed and implemented in collaboration with the Anhelo Community Association of Vicente Guerrero.  Academic, medical, and development professionals and local community members oversee the student training and the community needs assessment deployment.


Second: we collect accurate data about real community needs and share it with community leaders. Under the ethics oversight of Mount Saint Mary's University's ethics review board and the Anhelo Community Association data protection agreement, CHI cleans the health assessment data up and delivers it back to the community, through the the Anhelo Community Association, in a way that the community can use that information to create sustainable improvement in the lives of community members.

Third, we work with the Anhelo Community Association and local community members to develop community-identified, collaborative, and sustainable solutions to identified problems.  After identifying local assets that can provide meaningful and sustainable solutions, we partner local communities with local and external supporters who can help bring those solutions to fruition.



Fourth, working with the Anhelo Community Association, we evaluate the implemented programs to ensure maximum impact, cost-effectiveness, and sustained improvement. This ensures donor resources are well spent and responsibly used and that projects are accountable.

This project is a collaboration with some of the following:
- The Borderland Project, Mount Saint Mary's University
- ReachBaja (www.reachbaja.com) 
- Iglesia La Puerta Abierta
- Ancla Eterna A.C. (Eternal Anchor; eternalanchor.org)