Press Release: Fundación MAPFRE and NPH USA Renew Partnership to Develop Global Leaders

Fundación MAPFRE, the non-profit organization created by MAPFRE Insurance, has made a generous donation to support NPH’s Seattle Institute, which develops a future generation of leaders from the NPH homes.

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Chicago, IL (October 19, 2018) — Fundación MAPFRE is proud to announce that it has renewed its partnership with NPH USA by providing more than $85,000 to support the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) Seattle Institute, which develops a future generation of service leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Now in its eighth year, NPH’s Seattle Institute offers promising young adults a deep and advanced service leadership experience in the U.S. Each year several university students from NPH are selected to spend 10 months in Seattle, enrolling in a full-time English program and participating in a comprehensive servant leadership development program. The goal of the program is to train talented youth to maximize their potential and serve others in their local communities.

“The NPH Seattle Institute Leadership Program is a great example of an impactful global initiative,” said Alfredo Castelo, chief representative of Fundación MAPFRE in the U.S. “It helps talented young adults from Latin America and the Caribbean develop their skills and return home to make a positive impact on their families and local communities. We are pleased to partner in this important effort.”

The 2018 – 2019 class of Seattle Institute students arrived in Washington in early September. Aged between 23 – 25 years, they are from the NPH homes in the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru. During their time in Seattle, they will live with host families, enroll full-time in the International Student Program at Seattle Central College, and work closely with personal and professional mentors. They also will attend weekly leadership classes and quarterly retreats, participate in site visits and job-shadowing at local companies, and engage in community service opportunities with local organizations. Upon returning home, the students will be asked to take part in ongoing leadership development within NPH and in their communities.

“NPH USA is extremely grateful to Fundación MAPFRE for their continued support of NPH and commitment to the Seattle Institute,” said Frank Donaghue, President and CEO of NPH USA. “Their generosity is helping us develop young leaders who want to serve others and give back. Together through this partnership, MAPFRE and NPH will help enable thousands of children in need to overcome poverty and become leaders in their own communities.”

To date, 38 young adults have graduated from the Seattle Institute. Currently 23 participants are continuing their university studies in a variety of fields, including health care and education, 18 are working full-time and 14 are employed full-time by NPH.

“I have come a long way to a place where I could not even imagine before this program, a place where I know I can become the best version of me; I can proudly say that I am able to identify who I am as a human being and as a leader. I am now confident that I am on the right path to become the man that I have always dreamed about and to be honest the Seattle Institute has played a big role in that,” said Samuel, Class of 2017, from NPH Haiti, who currently works in the Visitor’s Department and also at St. Helene, the main NPH children’s home.

For more information about the Seattle Institute, including photos and biographies of the new students, please visit www.nphusa.org/institute.

About NPH USA
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH, Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) was founded in 1954 in Mexico by Father William B. Wasson, a native of Phoenix. Today, NPH operates residential care homes and family strengthening programs for vulnerable children in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru.

NPH USA (originally Friends of Our Little Brothers) was incorporated in Arizona in 1965 to support NPH. Headquartered in Chicago, NPH USA now has regional offices in Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, Seattle, Miami and Minneapolis. Together, NPH USA and NPH are providing more than 6,200 children with the support and resources they need to remain in their home country and build a better future for themselves and their communities. In addition, more than 140,000 services were provided through community outreach programs in 2017.

For more information about NPH USA, please visit www.nphusa.org.

About Fundación MAPFRE
Fundación MAPFRE is a nonprofit organization created by MAPFRE Insurance in 1975, which performs its activity in 29 countries and whose main objective is to promote the well-being of society and citizens across the company’s footprint. It is the insurance company’s majority shareholder, thus helping to ensure the firm’s independence and shareholding stability.

The Fundación’s operations focus on five areas:
• Accident Prevention and Road Safety
• Insurance and Social Protection
• Culture
• Social Action
• Health Promotion

In 2017, the Fundación performed more than 300 activities around the world, which benefited nearly 23 million people.

For more information about Fundación MAPFRE, please visit https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/fundacion/en