The Colectivo Pro Derechos de la Niñez, A.C. (CODENI or Children's Rights Collective) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the conditions of children living and/or working on the streets of Guadalajara, Mexico. We currently serve over 100 at-risk youth who survive off the streets of downtown. These children, predominantly indigenous migrants, have abandoned their impoverish villages to come to the city of Guadalajara with their families in search of a better life. Limited economic opportunities and education have forced them to seek work in the streets, selling potato chips or candy, shining shoes, cleaning windshields or juggling in major intersections. It is our goal to eliminate children's dependence on the streets using education as the primary tool.
Our efforts focus on empowering street children to overcome the debilitating impacts of life on the street. We provide literacy classes, homework tutoring, arts and crafts, educational workshops related to the risks of the street, life-planning projects, and organized sports and recreation. In addition, families with strong participation are assisted with monthly food baskets, educational scholarships, psychological attention and social services for other needs detected by our staff of social workers and street educators. In 2007, we established a 501(c)(3) organization, AHALA Children's Rights Foundation in order to provide financial support for CODENI's programs. AHALA works entirely through a volunteer staff based out of Roanoke, Virginia in an international effort to provide street children with quality education.
