Put on your running shoes for the first Race 4 OYE event of 2014.

Since 2010, OYE supporters have organized Race 4 OYE events all over the country, capitalizing on their love for running to promote social good and raise thousands of dollars to support OYE's mission.

Saturday, May 3rd, marks the first Race 4 OYE event of 2014. A team organized by Patrick Ahern, father of co-founder Ana Luisa, will be showing their support for OYE at the 16th Annual Manna 5K Fun Run/Walk at East Potomac Park - Hains Point in Washington D.C.

If you live in Washington D.C., we encourage you to join the Ahern family and friends by registering for the race. While your $30 registration fee goes to support Manna, a NGO dedicated to providing quality housing for low-income persons and families, any additional funds raised go directly towards OYE's scholarship program, which provides over 60 at-risk Honduran youth with the opportunity to continue their high school and university education.

For all of you out there who believe in OYE's mission and the potential of our youth, regardless of whether or not you are a runner or whether or not you are a DC'er, we hope you will join us by making a contribution to this effort. It is because of the support of people like you that we are able to continue with our mission to empower the at-risk youth of El Progreso who benefit from our integrated educational, leadership and community action programs.

Just last year, three Race 4 OYE efforts raised over $9,000 USD for OYE's programs.

• May 2013 - MANNA 5K Team organized by Patrick Ahern raised $2,775 USD
• October 2013 - NY Marathon ran by Sam Vigersky raised $4,315 USD
• November 2013 - Richmond Half-Marathon ran by Matt Trybus and Mary Clay Thomas raised $2,225 USD

Help us kick off 2014's Race 4 OYE fundraising efforts with a successful first campaign. With your support, we can surpass last year's fundraising by miles. (Pun intended.)

To join the Ahern family and friends at the race, you can register HERE.

To make a financial contribution to support this effort, visit our CrowdRise campaign HERE.

Trash and Trees Bring Us Together.

“Hands on El Progreso” took place on January 26th at the Río Pelo in the neighborhood of Penjamo located just outside of El Progreso’s town center. The event brought together 100 volunteers and various sponsors and organizations.

The collaboration between OYE, the municipal government, the Red Cross, Fire and Police Departments and the Penjamo neighborhood allowed for the execution of a safe and successful event.

“Hands on El Progreso” was inspired by a University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh (UWO) event called “Hands on Oshkosh”. Participation in “Hands on Oshkosh” has reached over 300 students per semester since its inauguration in 2010. Volunteer Angie Dusenberry introduced this event to the OYE scholars in the hopes that it would inspire volunteerism and unite the community.

The collaboration between OYE, the municipal government, the Red Cross, Fire and Police Departments and the Penjamo neighborhood allowed for the execution of a safe and successful event.

Recruiting volunteers to pick up trash seems daunting, but ultimately proved to be an easy task. OYE scholar Oscar Osorio and Angie presented the event at OYE’s Entrega de Becas event, our annual welcoming ceremony for first time and returning OYE scholars and their families. By highlighting event details, they sparked the interest of many of the scholars.

Upper left: Fredy Aguilar from the Municipal Department
of Environment. Upper right: Volunteer Angie
Dusenberry. Bottom: OYE scholarship students.

January 26, the day of the event, was a whirlwind. The first 50 volunteers who arrived received matching "Hands on El Progreso" T-shirts. Participants included OYE scholars, their families, firefighters and community members. Everyone came together at the Penjamo community center, where a representative of the municipal government warned the community about the dangers of pollution and deforestation and emphasized community responsibility in their prevention.

After the inauguration, the participants cleaned and planted trees along the Pelo River for two hours, filling over 50 bags with trash and planting nearly 100 trees. It was inspiring to see the diversity of the participants, from local public servants to children, and the excitement about future community engagement efforts.

Collage of photos of OYE scholars and community participants throughout the "Hands on El Progreso" river clean-up and reforestation event.

A huge thanks goes out to all the participants and the effort Angie Dusenberry put into organizing this event for OYE and El Progreso.

Note: Much of the content of this blog post comes from Angie Dusenberry´s volunteer write-up. 

The Super Becados - A Team that Works

If you’ve worked or are social with people who work at NGOs you’ve heard the age-old adage “overworked and under-paid.” That’s precisely how an NGO should be running because at the end of the day as much of the money flowing in, in our case largely from individual donors’ pockets is earmarked to go directly towards the organizations mission.  Many people in the field take on impossible loads of work and responsibility that would be handsomely rewarded were the projects producing a monetary profit instead of social good. However, the opportunity to know that one’s work is viewed both qualitatively and quantitatively as improving societal outcomes or contributing to development is a very positive externality, attracting people to the heavy workloads and sacrifices of small non-profits.

OYE is no exception. Like any great NGO, OYE funnels your generous donations as directly into its programs to empower at-risk Honduran youth as possible. In 2013 OYE operated with only three full-time staff members and one part-time accountant. In 2014 the team has changed just slightly, bring our account Carlos Galeas on board full-time (congrats Carlos!). With such a trim streamlined team how does OYE run a scholarship program, personal and professional capacity building classes, an art program, a sports program, a magazine program, a graphic design program, and a radio program?

The answer is very creatively. 

As OYE approaches the midway point of January 2014 it is midway through an iterative training process for new youth leaders. These leaders, or project coordinators, are the key to OYE’s ability to achieve so much with such a limited professional staff. So let’s take a look at how this works:

OYE has adopted a philosophy that permits our actions to be both a means to an end and an end in themselves. That is to say that OYE’s mission is to create socially conscious youth leaders that serve as agent of positive change in their communities, but to achieve that we must rely on OYE’s own socially conscious youth leaders, our youth coordinators. Patrick Ahern, a long time OYE volunteer, has affably dubbed these youth coordinators “Superbecados.”

Superbecados are the youth that demonstrate strong leadership qualities and a commitment to see OYE’s youth projects grow. We have been blessed with incredible Superbecados over the years like Yarli Yanez, Gerald Velasquez, and Fabiola Oro who have taken the Radio, Art, and Magazine projects to new astounding new heights.
In 2014 we are proud to introduce a new group of Superbecados. These are youth that have excelled as leaders and members of their respective projects. With no further ado OYE is proud to present OYE’s keys to success in 2014-its civic engagement project coordinators or Superbecados: 

•  Sports – Erick Estrada and Heili Aguilar
•  Revista Jovenes (magazine) – Fabiola Oro
•  Design (Adobe) – Oscar Osorio
•  Radio Ritmo Online – Heydi Reyes
• Arte la Calle – Jefry  Yoel, Yosseth Pacheco, and Claudia Pavon 

Dunia, our Program Coordinator, has dedicated the month of January to developing the skills these youth will need to succeed as Superbecados. She has developed a comprehensive training program including modules of leadership, conflict resolution, assigning roles, developing profiles, OYE’s internal politics, and the development and administration of projects.

Stay tuned to see these Superbecados guide their projects into new uncharted waters expanding OYE’s impact and empowering other at-risk Honduran youth.

SOMOS OYE

Going Above and Beyond: Race4OYE

Left to right Matt Trybus, Mary Clay Thomas, and Christine Flory

Congratulations to the dynamic duo Matt and Mary Clay, an unbeatable husband and wife team. Both have been intimately involved with OYE Honduras. Matt has served as a board member and University Volunteer coordinator for the passed five years, and Mary Clay has initiated a University Internship program that sends Social work majors to OYE for internships. Per tradition, the two teamed up to run the Richmond Marathon and raise scholarship funds for OYE.

The dynamic duo shared this recap:

Richmond 1/2 marathon recap. Mary Clay Thomas crushed it in 2:06:17. I finished in 1:43:38. Had a ton of fun with Seth Flory , Christine Flory, andMark Russell. Corey Burgoyne was our generous host.

Congratulations to finishing the 1/2 marathon and in such athletic times!

OYE is proud to call Matt and Mary Clay members of its family.

See Matt and Mary Clay's campaign on crowdrise and remember, its never too late to support a good cause!
Matt and Mary Clay Race 4 OYE

Calling All Young Leaders and Change Makers!

As 2013 draws to a close OYE is more than happy to turn its attention to the future, and this means selecting new scholars and planning for the 2014 year. This past weekend the process of preparing for 2014 kicked off in earnest as we interviewed potential OYE Scholars. With board members settled to arrive at the end of this week the tumultuous agenda preparing for next year shows no sign of slowing down. Board members, beneficiaries, and staff will participate in both long and short term planning sessions.

Program Coordinator, Dunia Perdomo, Introduces the first exercise.

This past weekend the organization hosted its first round of interviews for 2014 OYE scholars. In addition to returning OYE scholars, approximately 30 local youth were invited to participate in both

OYE Volunteers Morgan and Alex
observe new applicants with board mem-
ber Walter Molinari (Black t-shirt).

group and individual interviews. For the first time, OYE implemented a dynamic Group element, allowing a diverse committee to evaluate how applicants interacted among their peers. Divided into groups of youth with like ages, the applicants were given challenges and the committee assessed who took leadership roles, who was a good listener, who demonstrated rational thinking or deduction, and what was the general group dynamic. This was the first time that OYE has used such tactics to gain a deeper understanding of how applicants think, function, and transact with their peers.

First time applicants work together

In addition to being a great observational tool, the dynamics gave the applicants a chance to accommodate themselves and gain some confidence before entering the individual interviews. The individual interviews give the applicants an opportunity to express their hopes and aspirations and convey things that one cannot see during a dynamic group activity. As Walter Molinari pointed out, the personal interviews are essential to finding youth with leadership potential, as opposed to those who have already developed a strong sense of leadership and voice. At OYE we are seeking youth with positive attitudes and a desire to make their community a better place, a clear distinction from a competitive drive and take-charge attitude. Walter lauded the individual interviews as a great tool, identifying some of OYE’s greatest leaders like Gerald and Sandra who never would have come across in a group interview.

Activity #1, Applicants collaborate to build
unique model homes

The next phase of the process involves home visits. This allows OYE staff to know where the scholars live and meet their families. Vice versa the families of OYE scholars have the chance to meet OYE staff. Both sides arrive to a better understanding of the other. Information is confirmed and OYE has the chance to develop a personal relationship with its community. (This is by far my favorite part of the process.)

All in all the process is evolving and offers a well-rounded perspective on aspiring OYE scholars. The applicants this year have been inspiring. It is so hard to select the ones that

Applicants work as pitch team, selling
their model home to OYE

will receive OYE scholarships, but as our programs expand  we can realistically offer each and every applicant the chance to benefit from OYE’s Leadership and Capacity Building classes and participate in OYE youth-led community outreach programs.

OYE el Cambio - Spring 2013

Fortaleciendo Liderazgo Local

Por Dunia Perdomo; Coordinadora de Programas

OYE tuvo el beneficio de participar en el  Foro 2013: fortaleciendo liderazgo local de los asociados de Seatle International Foundation.  La reunión se llevó a cabo desde 14 al 16 de marzo en Antigua Guatemala. Dunia Perdomo, Coordinadora de Programas y Proyectos y Yarli Yanes, becada y coordinadora del proyecto de Radio Ritmo Online asistieron a él.

Yarli intervino como panelista en la sesión Programas de Desarrollo de Liderazgo Juvenil. Ella compartió su historia personal y las mejores prácticas de nuestra organización desde su experiencia en los proyectos. Su participación le valió el reconocimiento por los organizadores del evento.

Muchos de los asistentes al evento expresaron su admiración e interés por el concepto de trabajo de nuestra organización. Nuestro modelo de formar líderes a través de la construcción de capacidades en liderazgo e integración de los jóvenes a los proyectos de Arte, Radio, Revista, Deportes y Adobe es un ejemplo tanto para organizaciones locales como para las de la región latinoamericana.

La participación nos deja formación en evaluación de impacto de programas de liderazgo juvenil  y con aliados locales como ASHONPLAFA, FONASIDA, OFRANEH, Alianza de Jóvenes de Puerto Cortés, GOJoven en Honduras, entre otras. Como también lazos con organizaciones regionales como Tan´uxil de Guatemala, Movimiento de Mujeres Nidia White de Nicaragua y la Coalición Panameña por EIS.

OYE Board member Walter Molinari participates in Mayan Ceremony

OYE had the pleasure of participating in the Forum 2013: Strengthening Local Leadership  for all Seattle International Foundation associates. The meeting was held from March 14^th to 16^th in Antigua Guatemala. Dunia Perdomo, our Program and Project Coordinator, and Yarli Yanes, scholarship recipient and Radio Ritmo Online Coordinator participated in the event.

Yarli was asked to be part of the panel Youth Leadership Development Programs. She shared her personal story and best the practices of our organization based on her experience on the OYE projects. Her participation in the panel earned special acknowledgment from the forum organizers.

Most of the participants expressed admiration and interest for the concept of our organization. Our model based on training leaders through a leadership building program and the integration of our kids in the Art, Radio, Magazine, Sports, and Adobe projects is an example for both local organizations and the ones in the greater Latin-American area.

The participation leaves us with greater knowledge on how to evaluate impact in youth leadership programs and new local allies such as ASHONPLAFA, FONASIDA, OFRANEH, Alianza de Jóvenes de Puerto Cortés, GOJoven in Honduras as many others. As well, we made connections with other regional organizations such as Tan´uxil from Guatemala, Movimiento de Mujeres Nidia White from Nicaragua y  Coalición Panameña por EIS.

Its a New Year! Entrega de Becas Welcomes 70 OYE Scholars to 2013

2013 OYE Scholars

I still don’t know how we pulled it all together! A day before the Entrega de Becas, our yearly welcome ceremony for OYE scholars, we were still trading stories about vacation and dusting off the keyboards. Due to unforeseen events we pushed the ceremony forward one day and it was one us before we realized!

Marisol and Dunia Supervising the decorations

Up went the decorations. Gerald, our art program coordinator, doubled as party decorador. He and his students dressed our upstairs conference hall in green and white streamers, they glued together paper globes of matching colors, and hand crafted OYE’s first ever portable display screen for our brand new projector.

We scrambled about the office and about town Friday the 11 putting the finishing touches on the ceremony. We hauled 100 plastic chairs across town and printed out the certificates. In the last 30 minutes we tested the microphones and changed from our sweat soaked tshirts into new, stylish, green OYE Maya logo tshirts that unified the staff anda ll 2013 scholarship students.

Guests of Honor

Doors opened at 1 pm and the familias of scholarship students poured in. They paused briefly in the reception to be bchecked out and for the new OYE student to receive a their their bright green shirt. As everyone filed up stairs moms, dads, brothers, and sisters filled in the back rows and a chatty sea of green flooded the front rows. The number of OYE scholars and familias grew and grew! OYE is never as fun as when its full of students and familias.

At 2 pm the ceremony began, with the opening words of Director Marisol and Vice President of the Board Eduardo Umanzor. Tragically, I took over the reception and waited for ther last few stragglers to wander in while Marisol and Eduardo eloquently pumped up the crowd with OYE’s mission and vision:

Eduardo Umanzor, Mrisol Fuentes, and Dunia Perdomo - From left to right

Mission

OYE’s mission as a community-based, youth-led organization is to develop the leadership and capacity of at-risk Honduran youth who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and might otherwise be drawn to the path of crime, violence, drugs, and/or gang involvement. OYE’s integrated development approach combines formal education, youth capacity building, and community engagement to inspire and equip young people with the awareness and skills they need to take control of their lives. OYE’s model of sustainable, long-term development focuses its efforts on the empowerment of socially conscious youth who will emerge as leaders and agents of positive change in Honduran society.

Vision

OYE envisions a society where all young people, regardless of race, gender, religion, class, sexual orientation, or abilities, are given the opportunity to exercise their leadership potential. Once they are educated and trained as leaders, OYE youth realize the positive impact that young people can have on their communities. In such a society, young people have a powerful voice and know how to effectively use it to create change in their lives and communities.

Fabiola Oro and Oriel Diaz

By the time I made it up we had arrived to the heart of the program. Oriel diaz and Fabiola Oro were revisiting the 2012 year in photos. They shed light on each of OYE’s youth led projects by presenting photos of individuals and groups from Art la Calle, Jovenes Revista, OYE Ritmo (Radio), Copa OYE (Sports), and our capacity building classes. The presentation always gets me, and many others, a little nostalgic for the good times we have shared together. Many family members get excited as they see what their son or daughter will be involved in.  The MCs of the event, Yarli Yanez and Gerald Velasquez, prepared a short presentation explaining the details and goals for OYE’s art, magazine, and radio project in 2013.

MCs Yarli Yanez and Gerald Velasquez

The MCs transitioned from history and facts about OYE to the presentation of OYE’s 2013 scholars. As their names were called each new or old scholar made his or her way to the ceremonial table to receive a certficate presented by a member of the “table of honor.” Presenting the certificates were Director Marisol Fuentes, Program Coordinator Dunia Perdomo, guest of honor Walter Molinari, and Vice-President of the Board of Directors Eduardo Umanzor. From my prospective, it was during this traditionally tedious affair that OYE really identified itself.

When I attend such ceremonies I fear the momento that we indivudally call each beneficiary  to come to the front of the room, shake a hand, receive a diploma, and take a picture-it takes forever! However, this time is was different. That is to say, it was fun! As names were called people cheered and teased and teased back. There bows and cat calls, there were hugs and chuckles, and it was the best awards ceremony I have had the pleasure of participating in. My only issue was that it was far too short – if only we had to budget to support 100 scholars and not just 70! QUE LASTIMA!

A huge thank you goes out to all of you who reached out and donated to OYE over the Holiday Season. The donations at the end of one year are very strong indicators and set the pace for the next. Your support is what allows us to introduce new at-risk youth into the OYE family and make a positive impact in El Progreso, Honduras. Now if you didn’t donate remember its never to late!

Learn about Donating

$50 is a University Scholarship

$30 is a High School Scholarship

$25 Sponsors a capacity building class of Sexual Education

$1 Because no amount is too small

$0 is too small! You can do better than that!

Reality and Literature

Today OYE's Circulo de Lectura interprets and applies the literature of Honduras' Ramon Amaya Amdor to present day Honduran reality.

Author Ramon Amaya Amador

Mr. Amador is famous for his social activism and analysis of Honduran reality and social injustice in the 1950s and 1960s. His journalistic efforts around the banana plantations, which he dubbed the Green Prison, culminated in the creation and publication of his most famous book Prision Verde. The book straddles the line between history and fiction-reporting and analysis. If one reads closely they may encounter the particular lens that Amador viewed the world through. That lens is the same that applies to his book Cipotes.

Cipotes - Kids

Description of Citpotes on Ramon Amaya Amador's Official Webpage

OYE's reading group, working with Program Coordinator Luis Paredes, selected this book because it addresses the reality of Honduran youth. Although it was written over 50 years ago and set in Tegucigalpa, the characters and the story are very relevant to the 12 OYE scholars. Without giving away any important details, the story follows the lives of Folofo and Catica-two children growing up with a single mother that shine shoes and sell newspapers to survive and support themselves.

Cover of Cipotes

As we dissect the themes of the novel, hands fly into the air drawing connections between the novel and present day Honduras. Why was Folofo shining shoes at 11 years old? For the same reason that we see 11 year olds juggling on every other corner of San Pedro Sula today. 

Folofo was selling the Diario and El Cronista in the 1950s and today El Tiempo and La Prensa depend on the same child labor to sell their product.

Responsibility and injustice are two important themes in the novel Cipotes that touch a live nerve in today's Honduran youth. Beyond the exploitation and necessity of youth the book and the scholars analyze the causes as well.

What are the causes? To begin with there is a lack of respect for law and institution. This is compounded by a lack of civil society to strengthen these institutions. Secondly, as a society, Hondurans needs to insist upon and implement a government that protects its citizens and not just its businesses. Finally, Honduras needs to provide opportunities to health, education, and just employment to all of its citizens.

"Muchas de las cosas que viven las personajes vivia mi madre" - Sandra

"My mother shared many of the experiences lived by the characters"  - Sandra

The novel was written over 50 years ago, but its themes and events are fresh in the memory of Honduras.

Despite the anachronisms the story could be taking place today in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro, or El Progreso. At the end of the exercise Luis leaves us all with this:

"Now we have to decide what we do and how we confront this reality. How can we each commit to make an impact in our own way?" - Luis

Whether exploitation and injustice is taking place here in Honduras  or in your own neighborhood, it is important that we all ask ourselves this question: How can we commit to making a positive impact in our community?

 _______________________________________________________________________

Back to School; Determining the Media Preferences of Youth

Although Honduran colleges are on a two-week vacation and local high schools are in the middle of their semester, they offices of OYE have quite literally emptied sending staff and scholars back to school. Instead of receiving classes OYE is passing out investigations. Designed by Shawon Jackson and Viviana Mardones, Princeton volunteers, in conjunction with Luis Paredes, Yarli Yanez, and Fabiola Oro these investigations are designed to improve OYE’s radio and magazine projects.

OYE’s study, Determining the Media Preferences of Youth in El Progreso, examines youth expectations and preferences in regards to radio and magazine media to ultimately improve its communications programs. To complete this study OYE will visit 6 local high schools and interview 680 youth between the ages of 12 and 18.  

The focus area of 12 – 18 years of age has proved surprisingly inclusive as 45% of Honduras’ population is under the age of 18. Data collection for this study is going exceedingly well. With a slightly late start yesterday OYE completed data collection at Saint Elizabeth, a small Catholic school, and began collecting interviews from La Perla. La Perla, El Progreso’s largest high school yielded over 100 interviews yesterday but will be a multi-day process. To facilitate the interviews OYE has reached out to its network of educators. As OYE arrives to the schools, teachers invite the team into their classroom to administer the interview. The process has been smooth and effective so far, and within two days the interview process should be complete.

Many thanks go out to Shawon Jackson and Viviana Mardones who have invested countless hours into making this a professional and accurate study. These two volunteers have polished their investigative skills conducting ideological and literature reviews and working hand in hand with Luis Paredes to design a high quality investigation that will produce recommendations for improvements to OYE’s radio and magazine projects. By revealing a deeper level of understanding about what youth look for in these media outlets, OYE can reach out to El Progreso’s youth population in more effective ways and leverage the work down by these volunteers long after they are gone.

Stay tuned here for updates on this investigation and reflections from OYE volunteers.

Shawon Jackson

"I'm hoping to learn more about the nuances of surveying adolescents - understanding the various variables, for example, that can impact our results. Additionally, I'm hoping to become more comfortable speaking with Hondurans, in order to better my Spanish skills."

Viviana Mardones

"I am entering my junior year and will be doing social investigations of my own, and this [investigation] has given me an inside look at what its really like."

Special Thanks to KM2

 To a Great Future with KM2 Solutions!

Walter Molinari hands OYE director Marisol Fuentes a
donation of 26,977.60 Lempira, on behalf of KM2 Solutions

OYE is proud to announce the growth of a strong relationship with KM2 Solutions. Beyond the monetary support, OYE is looking forward to building a great relationship and a great future with KM2 Solutions.

KM2 has demonstrated a real desire to contribute to OYE’s philosophy of integrated development and make a difference in its community. This means they are giving more than money. Walter, KM2’s public relations manager, has taken the initiative to reach out to OYE in dynamic ways. We look forward to innovative collaborations with KM2 staff and facilities to bring our capacity building classes to a new level. Ideas for future alliances include incorporating Ted-talks into our capacity building program to touch on pertinent themes and stir a dialogue that will be moderated by professionals form the offices of KM2.

Although KM2 is a multinational organization its staff is principally composed of native Hondurans that have expressed an interest in giving back to their communities.  Although we cannot thank KM2 enough for the financial donation of $27,000 Lempiras, the real story here is the excitement about this vast expansion of OYE’s family here in Honduras.

To the individuals that compose the work force of KM2, we want to give each of you our most sincere gratitude.  Perhaps independently your donation seemed like a small sum or a small sacrifice but together your donations are converted into the hope, self-esteem, and future of at-risk Honduran youth. Your donations will be directly invested into OYE’s programs ensuring that our 50 scholarship students will continue receiving an integrated education that encourages and empowers them to become the voices and leaders of their communities.

Check out KM2 Solutions on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/KM2SolutionsHonduras

Thanks!

Attention: OYE YOUTH ARE AT IT AGAIN

Check out OYE's latest progress report for Global Giving.  See the latest pictures and read the latest updates. Marathons, Soccer tournaments, Murals, and Yoga are just a few of the activities your favorite scholars have been challenging themselves with.

Here at OYE we are especially proud of Paola and Eric who pushed new boundries and defied the Honduran law of the SUN (Stay out of it!). Taking OYE's mantra of a heathly lifestyle to the next level these brave young scholars ran 13 miles in the blazing Honduran sun.

In other news, OYE is proud to announce a youth social media project in collaboration with Adobe. OYE scholars, after a rigorous training program, will teach 50 Progreseño youth the ins and outs of Adobe's latest photo and video editing software.  The ultimate goal of this project is not to learn how to use this software but to put the software to work through the creation of empowering youth projects. So stay tuned for updates and to see the incredible finished projects that OYE's youth create.

To see the project report please click on the link below:

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/oyehonduras/updates/

OYE YOUTH LEADERSHIP TRAINING

OYE el Cambio: Summer 2012 Newsletter

Open publication - Free publishing - More art

Check it out! OYE´s latest newsletter is hot off the presses! (or internet)

OYE's New Mural - El Nuevo Mural de OYE

OYE's Newest Mural

By Chris Benedict

My inspiration for the design came from the work of Shepard Fairey, who is most famous for his widely popular “HOPE” posters during Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.  Fairey, however, is also known for his “Obey Giant” campaign in which he “attempts to enable people to see clearly something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.”  Just as his campaign seeks to arouse curiosity and a search for deeper, perhaps hidden meaning, the individual defines the meaning of this artwork, free from any predetermined significance.  “Imaginen Su Futuro,” or “Envision Your Future,” might be intended to encourage the discovery one’s potential, working towards a goal, or any number of things depending on the viewer, things that are right before their eyes though possibly unclear, things OYE can help accomplish.

Volunteers Jenlain Coyle and Chris Benedict

Mi inspiración para el diseño vino de las obras de Shepard Fairey, que es más conocido por sus carteles extensivamente populares de “HOPE,” o “ESPERANZA,” durante la campaña presidencial de Barack Obama. Fairey, sin embargo, también es conocido por su campaña de “Obey Giant,” en lo cual él “intenta posibilitar que la gente vea algo que esté directamente enfrente de sus ojos pero escondidos; cosas que son tan tomados por hecho que son ocultados por la observación abstracta.” Igual a como su campaña busca despertar la curiosidad y encontrar un significado más profundo o, posiblemente, escondido, el individuo define el significado de esta obra, libre de cualquier definición predeterminado. La intención de “Imaginen Su Futuro” podría ser fomentar el descubrimiento del potencial de uno, trabajar hacia un objetivo, o cualquier cantidad de cosas dependiendo del observador, cosas que están directamente enfrente de sus ojos pero posiblemente poco claros, cosas que OYE puede ayudar a realizar.