Elevating Education, Expanding Opportunity

Project Redwood Invests in the Future of Children and Families in San Miguel Viejo

We are excited to share an important new chapter for Little Things Matter and Ojalá Niños: Project Redwood has awarded a grant to support Elevate Education, our comprehensive initiative designed to address educational lag and create stronger pathways to opportunity for children and families in San Miguel Viejo, Mexico.

For us, this partnership is about much more than expanding programs. It is about creating a connected educational journey one that begins with a young child preparing for school and continues through academic support, technology and STEM education, adolescent workforce readiness, and opportunities for mothers to strengthen their families economically.

At the center of that journey is a simple belief: where a child begins should not determine how far that child can go.

Understanding the Challenge

San Miguel Viejo is a small rural community just outside San Miguel de Allende. Nearly one-third of its approximately 833 residents are children under the age of 15, yet educational opportunities remain limited.

Average educational attainment is just over seven years, access to technology and internet connectivity is limited, and more than 64 percent of the workforce has no education beyond secondary school.

Behind those statistics are children we know.

They are the children who arrive at Ojalá Niños after school to practice reading or get extra help with mathematics. They are the students discovering computers, robotics and STEM. They are teenagers beginning to think about what their futures might hold.

And they are the reason we created Elevate Education.

Building a Pathway, Not Just a Program

Elevate Education is designed around four interconnected pathways that meet children and families at different stages of their educational journey.

For our youngest learners, the focus begins with school readiness-building early literacy, numeracy and social-emotional skills that can give children a stronger start.

As children move through primary and middle school, Elevate Education provides academic reinforcement in reading and mathematics while expanding their world through computer literacy, robotics, STEM, tutoring and enrichment.

For adolescents, the focus begins shifting toward the future. Applied technology, digital literacy, problem-solving and pre-vocational experiences help young people connect what they are learning today with what might be possible tomorrow.

And because the future of a child is deeply connected to the well-being of the family, Elevate Education also includes women and mothers, offering financial literacy, practical skills, workforce development and entrepreneurial opportunities that can contribute to greater household stability.

More than 100 children, adolescents and mothers are expected to participate across these areas of programming.

The Right Place at the Right Time

The support from Project Redwood comes at an especially meaningful point in the growth of Ojalá Niños.

With the opening of the Norby-Annino Learning & Community Center, our children finally have dedicated spaces for tutoring, reading, computers, robotics and technology, art, counseling and community programs.

Now we have the opportunity to take another important step: fully activating those spaces as part of a coordinated educational pathway.

A computer room becomes a place where a child develops digital confidence.

A robotics class becomes an introduction to engineering and problem-solving.

A tutoring session becomes an opportunity to close an academic gap before it grows wider.

A workshop for women can become the beginning of greater economic independence.

The building gives us the space. Elevate Education helps us turn that space into opportunity.

A Partnership with Shared Purpose

Project Redwood was founded by alumni of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and supports organizations working to alleviate poverty through education, job training, job creation and entrepreneurship.

That approach closely aligns with what we hope to accomplish through Elevate Education.

Education alone cannot solve every challenge facing a rural community. But when education is connected to technology, practical skills, workforce preparation and family economic opportunity, it can become a powerful catalyst for change.

We are grateful that Project Redwood sees the potential in this approach and, most importantly, the potential within the children and families of San Miguel Viejo.

Little Things Become Big Things

At Little Things Matter, we have always believed that meaningful change often begins with something small.

A child sounds out a difficult word. A math problem finally makes sense. A student opens a computer and discovers a new world. A teenager builds a robot and begins wondering, Could I do something like this when I grow up? A mother learns a skill that might help her contribute additional income to her household.

Individually, these may seem like little things. But little things build confidence. Confidence opens doors. And, over time, those open doors can change the trajectory of a life.   

That is the promise behind Elevate Education.

And with Project Redwood joining us in this work, we are taking another important step toward ensuring that the children of San Miguel Viejo have not only a place to learn, but the skills, confidence and opportunities to imagine and build a different future.