La Providencia: Providence. It’s right there in the name — our priorities and goals couldn’t be clearer, in light of the name. Not only do we want to provide for the children under our care sustainably, but establish and maintain initiatives to sustain our central mission of empowering those children. Horizon’s sustainability team in Honduras has worked diligently toward these ideals over the past year and a half, when Horizon took over administration at La Providencia. The team looked critically at our processes to ensure that everything we did would be to the children’s benefit and La Providencia’s longevity.

If that sounds like a difficult process…it was. One of the team’s major projects was the school, a private academy on-site at La Providencia. Since last year, the school’s principal and the in-country Sustainability Director set out to increase enrollment by nearly 20% for the following school year — a goal, they are pleased to report, they met! All these new students also meant creating individual payment plans for some families who received subsidized tuition. It also required more learning space! Newly completed building renovations provided extra classrooms in preparation for increased enrollment. The stage for an awesome school year was set…and then…

We all know what happened with schools in 2020. The pandemic hit amidst this restructuring process, and staff had to shift to virtual learning. Those shiny new classrooms are still waiting to be filled, but they ensure that La Providencia Academy is prepared when the time comes to bring students back to campus.

Despite these challenges, local Horizon staff remained focused on their goal: providence. La Providencia. The school principal, Samuel, has advocated passionately for maintaining the instructional excellence La Providencia Academy is known for. Under his guidance, that has been maintained. News on the financial side of sustainability is just as encouraging: Horizon’s staff in Latin America have turned a deficit into a profit, positioning the school for growth in the years ahead, providing quality education as well as financial resources for many children.