Project Description Region: Central America Country: Guatemala Location: Santa Cruz la Laguna Total Budget: $50,000 Area of Focus: Community economic development The current high unemployment or under-employment of young people in the community is causing many to leave the area. The intent of this project is to increase the economic self-sufficiency of educated young adults from Santa Cruz la Laguna by bridging the gap between academic achievement and sustainable livelihood through entrepreneurship training, professional development support, and financial literacy education. This project will provide four interconnected program components: (1) Business management training and seed capital opportunities for scholarship graduates (both high school and university) (2) Professional development support, including resume preparation, interview skills, and career coaching, for current and former scholarship students (3) Pre-vocational and entrepreneurship orientation courses for middle school students across Santa Cruz, to help them envision viable futures and make informed decisions about continuing their studies (4) Basic financial literacy and business administration for other program participants such as school parents and artisans, adapted for varying literacy levels. The project is scheduled to begin in January 2027 and end in November 2028 Primary Host Partner District: 4250 Rotary Club of: Lake Atitlan Primary Contact: Zachary Townesmith Email: ztowne@gmail.com Primary International Partner District: 6330 Rotary Club of: Wiarton Primary Contact: Patricia Cavan Email: patriciacavan@gmail.com Project Status Need $27,600 This project needs to receive some pledges to go to the next level. Please check the "Financing" tab to see the list of current pledges. Once the amount pledged is equal to the project budget, the status of the project will be automatically changed to "Fully Pledged". Click here to pledge support for this project. Project listed for the 2026-27 Rotary Year. The TRF Grant application number is #2799737.

Proposed Financing Existing Contributions Towards This Project Date Cash DDF Total Wiarton (6330) 21-Aug-26 $8,000 $8,000 $16,000 Remaining Amount to Raise Additional Club Contribution (Needed) - Add a contribution $27,600 - $27,600 Amount Requested from The Rotary Foundation - $6,400 $6,400 Total $50,000 Note: as of July 1, 2015 there is a 5% additional support fee for cash contributions. This fee does not appear in the financials above because it does not apply if the funds are sent directly to the project account (without going through TRF, and therefore without Paul Harris credit). Clubs sending their cash contribution to TRF must be aware they will have to send an additional 5%.

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History Log Entries 21-Aug-26 by Patricia Cavan System Entry: Creation of project page.