Social Responsibility

Social and Community Services

While providing high quality Spanish language instruction, Casa Xalteva:

• Operates a year-round activity center for elementary school kids from poor families, providing them with food, educational expenses, academic classes and tutoring, music, art and recreational activities, including baseball, basketball, and our award-wining chess teams.
• Provides job opportunities for Nicaraguans ( through homestay with Granada families, Spanish instructors, project workers, and others).
• Does community projects in poor neighborhoods.
• Funds educational scholarships for elementary, secondary and college students with financial need.
• Develops, impliments, and teaching of green initiatives.

Our Principles of Social Responsibility

• We will not practice or tolerate discrimination against any person based on race, color, class, religion, national origin, physical or mental condition, age, gender or gender identity, sexual preference, or other such characteristics.
• We will work against sexual harassment in all of its forms within our organization and our communities.
• We welcome and will strive to provide equal access for differently-abled persons to all of our services.
• We pledge fair and equitable treatment to Casa Xalteva’s teachers and other employees, including respect; involvement in our decision-making processes; providing fair wages, benefits and working conditions; and opportunities for personal and professional development.
• We will work to achieve environmentally positive practices in our daily lives and work. We are developing and implementing a “Green Strategy for Casa Xalteva” that includes recycling, energy conservation, use of renewable energy sources, water conservation and proper waste management, reduction of our carbon footprints, support for community environmental projects, and responsible stewardship of our land and resources.
• We support the principles of responsible tourism and travel, including learning about the country and its people and culture, minimizing environmental impact, supporting local initiatives, paying a fair price, and thinking about your impact on people, cultures and the environment. We will practice responsible eco-tourism, and encourage and educate all of our constituents to be aware and involved in efforts to make tourism a benefit to rather than exploitation of Central America and its people.
• As providers of international educational programs, we support ethical practices in education and study abroad, including honesty and transparency, responsibility to students and to host communities, equality of access, and fair prices.
• As an organization that works with Nicaraguan children, we strongly oppose all exploitation and abuse of children, including child labor, physical abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, and child sex tourism. We hold our staff, volunteers and visitors to the highest standards of ethical conduct in their interactions with children.

All funds earned from our educational programs for international students stay in Nicaragua and are used to support our educational and charitable programs.   All of our paid staff members are Nicaraguan.

Recommended Resources

http://nicaragua.usembassy.gov/tip_2007.html

http://www.rickymartinfoundation.org/english/default.aspx