YOUTH DESERT SHELTER

Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
Results

Organizational Vision

Mexicali, a region of the Mexican-United States border, is used as a dumping ground for deported youth. The youth are among the millions of Mexicans who attempt illegal immigration to the US each year to escape poverty. Mexicali is flooded by an average of 8 penniless minors a day returning from unsuccessful attempts to sneak across the border into California. Some are stuck in Mexicali as they wait for a return fare mailed to them by their parents. Many have no one back home who can afford to send money. Others have no one at home and no home, period.

Blanca Villaseñor and four other local women social workers founded Youth Desert Shelter to meet the needs of the deported youth and the townspeople of Mexicali straining under the burden of increased crime and begging by unemployed and restless youth loitering in the streets. The Youth Desert Shelter provides a safe harbor for youth deportees from the US, and helps them earn enough money to return home. It also conducts path-breaking research, human rights defense, and advocacy for policy reform on youth migration.

Citizen Base Strategy

The shelter was launched with government, foreign, and local money, but today it is supported with local resources alone. “All of our funds are local. We don’t get foreign assistance. We receive help from some local factories. There are a few from the Imperial Valley of California that give food in special cases,” reports Villaseñor. Mostly, it is the townspeople of Mexicali who support her work. Local citizens work in the shelter for low salaries and contribute money to pay utility bills. Local restaurants contribute leftover food. Local doctors contribute medical services. Local carpenters and restaurants provide temporary jobs to the transient youth so they can earn enough money to get home.

Results

On the one hand, “the community perceived the problem and responded because the kids were knocking on doors,” says Villaseñor. On the other hand, she continues, “the shelter covers a very important need because the kids don’t have the resources to get home. The kids stay in the street or they go to a jail for minors regardless of whether or not they have committed a crime.” Blanca has managed to bridge the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” in Mexicali by involving local citizens in her work. She gets the resources the “have-nots” need by impressing upon the “haves” the direct benefits they receive from helping their community.

Blanca's strategy was supported by the fact that local citizens perceived a direct correlation between deported youth and the welfare of the community. This correlation and willingness to help may not be so strong in every community. Often issues like the environment or hunger are too removed from the direct experience of the majority of local citizens, and it is more difficult to get their support. In many cases, like these, it is important to visualize your community in relation to your organization.

In relation to your organization, your local community consists of three primary subgroups: those who work for your organization or serve in an institutional capacity; those who are already members, supporting your organization in a variety of ways; and the rest of the general public, those who are either not familiar with your organization or have not been given a reason to participate in your work. Organizations can build and increase local citizen support by continuously working to move the inhabitants of the outer circles inward. The key to this process is to remember that you are the center of the circle. It is your responsibility to act as a magnet pulling in the outer circles. Many organizations charge their members with this responsibility, leveraging their talents to find creative ways engage other citizens more fully and thus, pulling in the outer circles.