See It: The Community being helped

Hello! My name is Lucas Baradello and I am seeking your financial support for Juvenis, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that my brothers Federico, Nicholas and I founded in California in 2004.

Juvenis, in short, aims to elevate and empower immigrant youth in the United States by providing them with critical educational and professional guidance and resources for them to succeed. Juvenis was inspired out of our desire to respond to our relative privilege growing up and extend some these privileges to those who have been less fortunate. As the sons of Argentinean immigrants to the United States who were able to have access to the best educations and technologies available to our generation, we want to help our immigrant peers who have not had access to these same resources. Growing up in suburban northern California, my brothers and I often spoke with sons and daughters in other Hispanic-American and African-American families who often had a very poor understanding of how to navigate their educations. In response, my brothers and I postulated that if only our friends were part of a broader community that provided encouragement, guidance, and resources to help them navigate their educational endeavors, then they wouldn't lack this fundamental understanding, and would be able to more effectively take charge of their destinies and contribute more meaningfully to American society.

Along these lines, Juvenis' mission is to elevate and empower immigrant youth in the United States to actively and positively participate in civic life, as well as provide a voice of hope, positive reinforcement, and value driven opportunities to this growing demographic.

To meet these mission objectives, Juvenis will develop a web portal that will provide immigrant youth with an online community for them to interact with one another as well as access databases on scholarships, internships, jobs and other educational and career opportunities. Over time, the web portal will also facilitate linking immigrant youth with willing mentors.

We hope to develop a portal that will stimulate a broader discussion among U.S. based immigrant youth about their participatory role in American civic life, and we would like to start that dialogue here in Marin County.

We are asking for $500 of start up funds not simply to cover web maintenance fees, but allow us to launch a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the demographic realities of immigration into our county and encourage residents of Marin County to support our organization, and others, to provide essential services to these immigrants. It is essential that we work in Marin County to provide a welcoming and empowering environment for immigrant youth, particularly as the vast majority of them did not individually decide to come to the United States.

[Please refer now to the attached PDF document with relevant demographic statistics.]

The attached table highlights with visible clarity the growing number of Marin County, Californian, and United States citizens who are foreign born. But these statistics alone are insufficient to provide a compelling case for Juvenis and its vision. While it is clear that Hispanic-Americans and African-Americans are becoming increasingly prevalent demographics in American civic society, it is also clear that they are performing the worst in the face of indicators such as standardized testing, and graduation/college admission rates. Perhaps more significantly, these ethnic groups are not achieving the same level of success relative to their Asian-American or Caucasian counterparts. The solution, as we perceive it, lies in strengthening the educational foundation of immigrant youth from their earliest years or the moment they step foot on American soil. By “educational foundation,” we mean all resources, tools, and implicit knowledge naturally endowed to American-born students, who are consistently reminded of their role in a broader educational context and the specific objectives they need to meet to arrive at their academic and professional goals. The fundamental problem, then, is a general lack of awareness on the part of immigrant youth who have been incepted into American society sometime during their later years, with little or no proficiency in English, American culture, or their brand new educational setting. Juvenis seeks to remedy this trend through a web portal actively dedicated to the needs of all immigrant youth based here in the United States. By accessing positive, current, and relevant information designed for U.S.-based minority youth, students struggling in the educational realm can proactively identify their failings or misunderstandings and rectify their strategies accordingly.

There is a real need to provide value-based information, guidance and tools that will help migrant youth meet their aspirations and make a difference in their communities and we hope that DO Something will support us to generate greater awareness here in Marin County.