Help at Risk Children | HCN Program

Transforming a Nation!

World Bank reports that 71% of Nicaraguan students do not graduate high school and are not prepared to meet life’s challenges.

For the families we serve and with the help of the staff at the HCN, this troubling trend has been reversed. 72% of our students DO graduate high school.

To date, we have had a total of 13 High School Graduates of which, all are first generation high school graduates. Additionally, we have 7 who are currently in college, while 3 have already earned their college degrees. Furthermore, 6 of our program graduates have full time jobs and are self-sufficient.

The History of HCN

El Ayudante first started in Nicaragua in 2001, with the mission of being a child protection center for the children of León. For nearly seven years, El Ayudante operated as a residential child protection center, providing a safe haven for 31 children sent by the Ministry of Family (Nicaraguan equivalent of Department of Human Services). In 2008 the Nicaraguan Government initiated Programa Amor (Project Love) and closed almost all of the child protection centers in Nicaragua with the idea of reuniting children with their families. While the program seemed to have a wonderful purpose, the program just lacked appropriate funding.

The changes that were brought forth with Programa Amor caused El Ayudante to adapt from a child protection center to a family enrichment center. Our Hogar Cristiano Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Christian Home, HCN) simply adapted and our children were put into the most stable and safe situations possible. Some went back to their families as before, but with financial support and basic needs met. Others went to a family member that could care for them in a safe environment. A few children who did not have a safe place to go continued to call our campus their home. With this change, the children were still provided with food, education, medical care, discipleship and love; they simply left at the end of the day and went home to their families.

Currently we have 34 children, teenagers and young adults involved in our program.

In an effort to maximize the unique attention and needs of varying age groups, the HCN has a rotating schedule. The high school students are on campus in the morning and attend school in the afternoon, and the elementary students have the reverse schedule. While at the HCN the children receive two meals and a snack, tutoring, Bible studies, individual and family counseling, and medical care.

Adapting to a family enrichment center has been a long journey, but didn’t change our mission of partnering with the Nicaraguan people to transform the nation – one child, one family, one community at a time.

Transforming a Nation!

The History of HCN

Currently we have 34 children, teenagers and young adults involved in our program.

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