CreceChile was founded in 2005 by a group of young
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
university students that sought to promote the integral growth of the human person through educational projects. Later, this initiative became a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
that seeks to support disadvantaged families through education.
CreceChile is also part of the international organization
Crece which is also present in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
.
History
In 2005, a group of 5 friends, and members of the
Christian Life Movement, working in a community in
Maipú, Chile
Maipú is a commune of Chile, located in Santiago Province, within the Santiago Metropolitan Region and forming part of the Greater Santiago conurbation. It was founded on 16 February 1821 and is historically significant as the site of the Battl ...
realized that many adults had not finished high school. This experience led to the possibility of educating and preparing a small group of adults to take the US equivalent GED.
The first class of consisted of 26 adults of which 90% passed the exam. This first experience led these young university students to form a more formal educational program that could respond to the greater needs of the Chilean population. Three years later, the number of adults preparing for the GED had grown tenfold. Today, CreceChile assists more than 600 adults complete their high school education and receives support from more than 175 volunteers in 6 different regions in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
.
Activities
The mission of CreceChile is to create an educational community, based on Catholic Values, to promote the integral growth of the human person. It’s concretely done through educational projects in sectors with scarce resources with the principal goal of building a more human and solidary society.
The results that CreceChile attempts to achieve for their students are: better wages, higher probabilities that their own children will complete high school and also that their children will have greater access to high education.
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CreceChile attracts professionals who go through an educational and teaching training to be able to later donate their time in the classroom teaching adults. CreceChile’s program is also geared towards providing its volunteers with skills and talents that will later help them in their job and their family.
Awards and recognition
The Ministerio de Desarrollo Social (Department of Social Development) and the President of Chile,
Sebastián Piñera
Miguel Juan Sebastián Piñera Echenique (; 1 December 1949 – 6 February 2024) was a Chilean businessman and politician who served as President of Chile from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2018 to 2022. The son of a Christian Democratic Party (C ...
, awarded CreceChile with the “Sello Más por Chile” award in 2012 and in 2013 for their “commitment to the improvement of the quality of life and development”. They were also pointed out for their “training tools and level of studies” provided to those adults that had not finished their high school education.
External links
CreceChileTercero BChristian Life MovementSodalitium Christianae Vitae
References
{{Reflist
Educational organisations based in Chile
Non-profit organisations based in Chile