Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots, Inc.
Give children pesos on the street and you feed them for a day. Give them an education and feed them for life!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Lack of access to full education for poor indigenous and at risk children in Oaxaca City Mexico and surroundings.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots (OSCGR)
OSCGR assists the poorest of children in Oaxaca City, Mexico and surroundings fulfill their dream of an education. These costs are covered by donations and individual child sponsorships. Participation in the OSCGR program is selective and based on need. Our services include payment of school inscription fees, school uniforms, tutoring, a meals program offering breakfast and lunch, social services, limited medical and dental services, social services, English lessons, use of a computer lab, and much, much more.
Where we work
External reviews

Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of children who have access to education
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adolescents, Young adults
Related Program
Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots (OSCGR)
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
We expanded our services by adding a new facility located in Xoxocotla in the fall of 2022.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots (OSCGR) is the US funding source for the Mexican organization, Centro de Esperanza Infantil (CEI). Our primary goal is to establish a reliable source of operating funds for CEI. Secondary goals are to increase our cash reserve and establish an emergency fund for CEI. In the future, we hope to expand services to reflect the changing demographics and living circumstances of the children and families served by CEI. For example, we hope to establish a transportation fund to provide services to families living in the colonias (Neighborhoods) surrounding CEI who are unable to access services at the downtown center.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We seek to expand our funding sources through public donations, grant funding, fundraising projects, electronic media, volunteer travel opportunities, and the creation of additional levels of donor support.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our all-volunteer board has a broad background of expertise and resources in a variety of areas, including marketing, journalism, technology, fundraising, and business; as well as a passion for improving the lives of the poorest children in Oaxaca. All board members have a history of involvement with OSCGR/CEI, a solid track record of supporting our operations, and an ongoing commitment to the support and expansion of our services.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are proud of improvements in our financial transparency and the technological communication between the US and Mexican organizations. We now have a state of the art facility in Oaxaca, which includes a much used computer center. Our students come to the center for computer classes as well as help with their homework. We also have a continuing program of volunteers who offer our children services that our small paid staff would not be able to facilitate. We now serve nearly 700 children and young adults in our growing program. Every year we have a larger percentage of young adults entering higher education and graduating with advanced degrees. The most pressing challenge is to address how to make sure our sponsorships and other fundraising efforts keep pace with the increasing costs of educating participating children and young adults in our program.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Children, young adults, and their families who live in poverty in Oaxaca City Mexico and surroundings. The majority of those we serve are from indigenous groups such as Mixtec, Triqui, and Zapotec.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
The pandemic continues to cause significant disruption in our services. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic Student learning has often been on-line. We work with our families to provide resources for on-line education while schools are closed. This includes providing devices when needed, assisting in paying for data to attend classes, etc. Further support is provided by our ongoing tutoring program. A google forms survey send via What'sApp was used to select one out of two possible locations for our new center. The final selection was based on our constituents preference.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots, Inc.
Board of directorsas of 03/28/2023
President W. David Slaymaker
No Affilliation
Term: 2024 - 2020
John Tyler
Board Member
Tim Porter
Board Member
Nancy Hatcher
Board Member
Colleen Meinman
Board Member
W. David Slaymaker
President
Ken Lorenze
Treasurer
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 10/13/2019GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.