Causes

Thanks to our generous donors, the Venado Community Center celebrates it's 10 year anniversary this January!

Over the last decade, the Venado Community Center has become a platform for community-driven initiatives and a hub for meetings, classes, and workshops. Thanks to our manager, Carmen, the center continues to host a variety of programming including: our children's after school program, monthly infant health clinics, small business workshops, environmental campaigns, and community events.

Every donation supports our holistic program that not only lifts Venado out of poverty, but helps them thrive amidst the rapid development affecting their local culture and environment.

100% of your donation goes towards grants and programs.

In the past months, the Venado community center has hosted lots of programs and workshops that contribute to the overall health and wellbeing of the community.

These include spay/neuter clinics, milk distributions, and nutrition information. The spay/neuter clinics help keep the numbers of stray and feral animals in the area from getting out of hand. Meanwhile, milk distribution and nutrition information sessions provide vital resources to young children and their parents!

After the children's center in Venado closed for some time due to COVID, it is back up and running! The center has a bright new paint job and new games including ping pong and cornhole. Additionally donors and supporters Gary and Liz Stone donated a brand new playground for Venado kids to enjoy! The playground was built by Mauricio, a local Venado resident, using local teakwood. The center and new playground serve as great places for kids to spend time playing and accessing community toys and games after school!

Grumueve is the women's entrepreneurs collective in Venado, and they have been busy with trainings, community chats, and capacity building! In recent months, the women of Grumueve have participated in monthly "charlas" (Spanish for "chats" or "discussions") in Venado led by the INA of San Jose and Liberia. The charlas range in topic from trainings on the soft skills of running a business, to more technical entrepreneurial skills.

In July, Clara Vista partnered with Loba Retreats to provide an intercultural component to their mindfulness retreat. Participants (pictured in the photo at the top of the page and just below) enjoyed several meals with local families, took a baking class with Maribel, learned about the women's entrepreneurship program and toured their local egg production microbusiness, and met the leaderships association and heard their story of founding the community center. This group invested over $2k in local businesses and community initiatives!

Clara Vista empowers leaders in rural Costa Rica to be agents of change. We've partnered with the rural fishing village of Venado, Costa Rica since 2011 to inspire leadership, build capacity, and empower community leaders with the tools they need to take the reigns on their own development.

Through this initiative, and with our donor's support, we have implemented projects targeted at improving quality of life - from augmenting their water distribution system to ensure every household has access to reliable drinking water, to hosting annual Christmas parties where every child receives a present, to reforestation campaigns, to supporting microentrepreneurs in growing their businesses.

How is our program sustainable?

We understand that change must be driven by the community itself; however, when living in poverty, it can hard to see the forest from the trees. We engage communities in developing their own Clara Vista – a clear vision for the future. A vision they can stand by in the midst of all the rapid development surrounding them. We break down large aspirations into tangible tasks to instill confidence and inspire action.