Who We Are

Building New Hope is a volunteer driven 501(c)(3) organization based in Pittsburgh, PA, and Granada, Nicaragua, that has been supporting grassroots development projects in Central America since 1992. We actively assist communities — primarily in El Salvador and Nicaragua — by selling fairly traded organic coffee; operating career training centers; alternative schools and literacy programs for underserved and at-risk youth; and funding income-generating projects for women and community organizing initiatives. In the past we've organized people-to-people work delegations, developed alternative energy projects, and supported emergency relief and reconstruction efforts to assist victims of catastrophic events.

Partnership lies at the heart of Building New Hope's mission. Responding to the expressed need of the Central American people, we build people-to-people bridges of hope and understanding. We also work to raise awareness of the challenges facing Central Americans in their efforts to lead healthy and dignified lives.

Our History

In 1992 a small delegation from Pittsburgh, PA traveled to El Salvador, a country struggling to emerge from a brutal civil war that cost tens of thousands of lives and devastated the tiny nation’s economy.  The work brigade assisted a group of repatriated refugees to construct their new home – a community named Nueva Esperanza, or "New Hope." 

We helped build a bakery, a cattle crossing and – most importantly – an enduring partnership with our new Salvadoran friends. The community’s spirit of resilience and cooperation inspired our organization’s name, Building New Hope.

We returned the following year and assisted with the installation of a solar-powered water filtration system that dramatically reduced the risk posed by water-borne illnesses. In order to ensure that the community would be self-reliant, we arranged for a student from Nueva Esperanza to study solar energy maintenance in Colorado.

Then in response to a need described by the community, we purchased, outfitted with school supplies, and shipped to El Salvador, a school bus to transport children from remote communities to Nueva Esperanza's high school - the only one in the area.

From the mid-1990's one disaster followed another: Nueva Esperanza faced bank debt and the threat of losing their land, Hurricane Mitch devastated the region, and then a series of deadly earthquakes rocked El Salvador. Working with other Pittsburgh-based organizations, Building New Hope raised thousands of dollars for both emergency relief and long-term reconstruction, sending aid directly to devastated communities in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Once assuredly on their feet, our sister community Nueva Esperanza urged us to support other communities in the region. We moved on to Nicaragua where we initiated our first long-term projects in 1998 when Donna Tabor, a former television producer from Pittsburgh, settled there as a full-time BNH volunteer.  Under Donna’s creative guidance, we have been developing alternative education and skills training programs for young children and at-risk youth, as well as responding to health and nutritional needs.

The late 1990’s saw the Central American people suffering from yet another crisis – the worldwide drop in coffee prices which left farmers without land and children starving from malnutrition. In response, Building New Hope began importing coffee from El Porvenir (“The Future”), a worker-owned cooperative in Nicaragua, and began marketing their organic, shade grown, fairly traded coffee in the United States.

We continue to support rural communities with their organizing efforts in El Salvador and other development projects in the region through coffee sales.  Additionally, we have been able to raise awareness of the importance of trade built on partnerships and equity. From our first project in El Salvador to our present work in Nicaragua, Building New Hope has successfully promoted a flexible, community-to-community approach to development based on a vision of “globalization” that puts people first by promoting democratic, sustainable, and healthy communities.   

return to top >