Our Model

Erik with Cintia Ugarte at the end of her stay (2006)At right: Erik with Cintia Ugarte at the end of her stay (2006)

Participants in Conduit of Hope (CoH) study in the Intensive English Language Program of Portland State University and live with host families chosen from First Presbyterian Church of Portland. Participants are chosen by partner organizations in their communities in their home country.

Studying abroad is a transforming experience fostering self-confidence and determination through conquering a new language and thriving in a strange and foreign culture. Past participants in the program described it as an opportunity to become “an example for other young people in Argentina who think that everything is lost,” and return home with a sense of self-esteem, a changed understanding of the US, Argentina and the world, a greater ability to trust and a will to impact others in their community. CoH is building role models of success that will challenge a marginalized neighborhood’s norms of violence, drugs and despair.

Each year as we grow, the students who return from the previous year will be role models for the newer participants in the program. These mentoring relationships then help to develop leadership skills in the participants - skills that will change the students and help to change their community over time. As CoH expands into other countries, the friendship that will develop between young adults from around the world will further global understanding.

CoH seeks to build up young adults individually, the communities they come from around the world and host churches in the US in three primary ways.

  1. Offer the opportunity to young adults in marginalized communities to develop specific skills that will help them escape from poverty.
  2. Re-insert those young adults into their neighborhoods as leaders and as role models of educational success so that their experience may benefit others in the community. Participants are expected to volunteer and teach in their community after becoming a part of CoH.
  3. Bring international mission into local churches by developing the opportunity for churches to invite and support students from marginalized communities so that relationships can be formed that may flourish over time. With this model, we seek to create a more personal mission experience for churches in the US than is typically afforded by sending checks and receiving letters.