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In conjunction with our scholarship program that provides for vocational training opportunities with organizations and institutions outside of Fabretto, we offer opportunities for our students to participate in programs run by our staff and teachers. The three most important programs in this area are Farm and Agribusiness, Forestry, and our Mechanics and Auto Shop. All three programs are run by Fabretto as small businesses whose purpose is to generate food and/or income to support the overall operations of Fabretto in Nicaragua.
Based at our San Isidro center, Fabretto operates a farm consisting of 15 acres. This initiative was started almost a decade ago with the goal of utilizing land that was available to grow food stuffs for our lunch programs and decrease our dependence on purchased foods for the students.
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In the ensuing years, this project has turned into a tremendous vocational training program for students interested in farming and agriculture. Given that all of our centers are located in agricultural areas, and many of our students come from families who live on small lots dedicated to subsistence farming, the fit has been tremendous.
Employing sustainable agricultural methods, we are working in partnership with Zamorano University, the Pan American School of Agriculture in Honduras, to implement their well known and highly regarded Learning by Doing curriculum. In this method of study, our students are learning the most modern agricultural methods and the associated business practices through actual implementation in the field. This method of instruction permits the student to integrate all areas of knowledge to problem solving and learning in a true work context.
In addition to serving our students, in the course of the next two years, Fabretto will be offering local farmers increased opportunities to learn from our agricultural specialists and apply the techniques being developed on our farm to their own production. The goal is to help the local community develop new and better sources of income from their crop yields, while applying environmentally sound farming techniques.
Fabretto owns and manages over 1,000 acres of pine forests in the mountainous northern area of Nicaragua. The forestry program is operated from our Cusmapa center where we run a lumber yard and seedling farm.
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Our land is one of the few Certified Forests in Nicaragua and we are using the program to train young foresters in responsible forest management techniques. The surplus income from lumber and forestry sales is used to offset other program expenses in Cusmapa.
The forestry project has also led to the development of two micro-enterprises run by parents of children in our programs. The first of these is the Women’s Pine Basket Initiative, a cooperative of about 40 mothers who use the pine needles gathered from the forest floor to weave and create beautiful baskets which is a traditional folk art form in this region.
Lastly, we are in the process of developing a Carpentry program run by fathers of children in our program. Using high grade samples of locally harvested pine, the carpenters are creating furniture pieces and small decorative items for sale. Our hope is that this initiative will grow into a successful cooperative that will not only provide income for the families involved, but also vocational training opportunities for young students to become master carpenters.
Started as a way to maintain our own fleet of vehicles with very limited resources over 10 years ago, our Mechanics and Auto Shop has grown into a viable, self-sustaining business.
Based on property adjacent to our main office in Managua, today, the shop runs 12 repair bays, a body and paint shop, an NAPA auto parts store, and as of 2005 is one of only 12 licensed emissions centers in Managua. This latest addition to the range of offered services is yielding a steady flow of income that is being both reinvested in additional equipment for the program and used to support general program operations.
At the moment, the shop is providing vocational training opportunities for an average of 15 students a year. Upon completion of their 3 year training, they are fully licensed mechanics, able to find gainful employment with other local garages or in their home communities when they return.
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The Fabretto Children's Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, tax ID #36-3894824.
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