Mission Statement
Vision: People of the frontera, known as the Dry Corridor of Intibucá, Honduras, live longer, healthier, more productive and fulfilling lives in a strong community. Mission: To work together with our communities to create, implement, and operate equitably accessible, sustainable health, nutrition, and education services.
Description
Shoulder to Shoulder began in 1990 in the small, isolated village of Santa Lucia, Intibuca, Honduras. This area of Honduras was extremely isolated, without infrastructure services such as running or potable water or electricity, suffering in debilating poverty, and ravaged by the war with El Salvador. Initially, university medical brigade teams began providing necessary medical services by way of two week visits with professionals and supplies. This grew to become Shoulder to Shoulder, now exclusively providing the medical care to 69,000 residents in southern Intibuca, the Dry Corridor of Honduras, also known as the Frontera. Shoulder to Shoulder has invested in a contract arrangement with the ministry of health, managing health clinics and employing over 150 Honduran medical professionals.
In more recent years Shoulder to Shoulder has expanded its mission to include development, community health, agriculture, and education. Specifically in Education, we run a girl empowerment program for girls in fifth and sixth grade called Yo Puedo (I can), a scholarship program to allow young people to continue in school after the sixth grade and receive a High School Edication and move on to college, and a public, bilingual school (kindergaten to sixth grade) that provides a quality education.
