Concern America Celebrates 50 Years of Transforming Lives in Materially Poor Communities

SANTA ANA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For a half century, a nonprofit in Santa Ana, California, has been working alongside people living in material poverty to effectively transform their communities.

Concern America, established by volunteers, was initially focused on supporting food and education centers in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Since then, the organization has extended its mission of transforming need into self-sufficiency to other communities around the world.

Today, Concern America works in isolated regions where civil wars and broken governmental systems have led to severe socioeconomic crises, and families face a myriad of issues such as lack of access to health care, clean water to drink, education in their indigenous languages, and jobs.

“We directly engage communities in health, sanitation, and income-generation projects by training community members to become their own healthcare providers, water system builders, teachers, and cooperative business members,” said John Straw, Concern America’s Executive Director. “So, it’s essential that we build upon our community members’ lived experiences and knowledge.”

Since 1972, Concern America has improved the lives of more than 2 million people in 15 countries. It currently works with 4,000 health care providers, midwives, dental promoters, teachers, water system builders, and artisan cooperative members in more than 1,000 communities in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia.

According to Catharine “Cat” Quinn, Field Program Coordinator, Concern America’s health professionals do not directly see patients. Instead, they train local people to become health promoter practitioners, who provide care to over 300,000.

“Our model is unique,” she said. “We’ve been recognized by the Buckminster Fuller Institute and Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for being unparalleled in our quality of instruction for individuals with little formal education.”

Because of its history serving communities faced with violence, Concern America maintains a low profile and intentionally does not receive government funding. Focusing its efforts on local and direct fundraising, 75 percent of its budget comes from donations from individuals.

“We’ve been fortunate,” Straw said, “For 50 years we’ve connected with generous people who partner with us to support our mission. We hope to form new partnerships to guide us through the next 50.”

With an urgent need for community-led health systems, Concern America aims to double the number of communities it works with over the next 10 years.

Visit https://concernamerica.org or follow @concernamericainc on social to learn more.