From July 20th until August 1, WTCI will host 18 high school students from Mexico to learn about youth empowerment best practices including curbing bullying, violence, substance abuse, high drop-out rates and teen pregnancy. The program is sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the Mexican Secretariat of Education and aims at introducing the Mexican youth to local organizations and programs that engage youth in productive activities. Based on the information learned during their stay, the students will implement community action projects in their own schools to work with their peers and younger students.
One of the benefits of the program is to expose the students to American lifestyle and culture through living with a home stay family. We are looking for homes in the Greater Baltimore Region to welcome the youth for the 12 days they will be in Maryland. All that you need a spare bedroom and willingness to learn about your guest(s) and to provide him/her an opportunity to learn about you. The youth will be out of the house during the day but must have breakfast and dinner in the home. WTCI arranges for transportation. All youth speak English (though you can still practice Spanish), are highly motivated and many of them already volunteer for other organizations or have started their own initiatives. All previous hosts had very positive experiences and find the program to be very rewarding. Families of all sizes, cultural and religious background are encouraged to apply!
For more information about this and other future hosting opportunities, contact Nina Bankova at Nina@wtci.org, or by phone at (410)-576-0022 x 103.
