Providing Support to Vulnerable Youth in Peru

In a partnership that crosses boundaries and languages, One More Child has joined hands with Jovenes Con Proposito (JCP Ministries) in providing support to vulnerable youth in Peru who are transitioning out of group homes.

JCP Ministries, located in Cusco, a southeastern Peruvian city near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountains, takes a holistic and Gospel-centered approach, ensuring vulnerable children continue their education, acquire a trade, and develop crucial life skills for work and social settings.

The unique connection between One More Child and JCP Ministries began in 2008. Howard Hicks, founder of JCP, and Alan Andrews, Director of Global Partnerships for One More Child, faced a canceled tour amid citywide protests outside the city.

Howard visited a market and met a young Quechua man who invited him to a Quechua language church service. Howard was already working with Quechua immigrants in Argentina and had never been to a Quechua language church service, so he was eager to attend.

At the service, he connected with several young people in the church and, in the following years, started working in many of the orphanages around the area. During this time, Howard saw the need to support vulnerable youth aging out of orphanages without the skills they needed to survive on their own. That is when he founded JCP to provide transitional support for those youth.

He also adopted one of the young men who aged out of one of the orphanages where he worked.

As a promising step forward, Howard and Alan traveled across Peru visiting various residential facilities in in the region, both governmental and non-profit, where JCP cares for youth. Their visits also included government offices involved in anti-trafficking initiatives and child welfare oversight.

The trip ended with an extensive TBRI training session that involved around 40 participants. This group included staff from residential facilities and representatives from local ministries and churches.

Looking ahead, One More Child plans to sustain its support of JCP by offering monthly TBRI training sessions until the close of 2023. One More Child is also assisting with program development, aiming to enhance collaboration with residential homes and government agencies.

Together with JCP, One More Child looks forward to illuminating hopeful futures for more vulnerable children in Peru by igniting positive change within Peru’s child welfare system.

You may not have your own global ministry at work in Peru like Howard, but you can impact the lives of vulnerable children across borders and around the world.

One More Child makes it possible for you to engage in three ways:

1. Support a child through our Global Sponsorship program.

You can provide life-changing food, clothes, school supplies, medicine, and educational opportunities for vulnerable children where we work today when you sponsor a child.

2. Go on a mission trip with One More Child.

You can bring the hope of Christ to children through a variety of activities from building houses to volunteering at AWANA and VBS events. We regularly update our mission trip calendar – take a look!

3. Give financially to support our global partners and ministries.

Your financial gift could go to a community development project including those that provide Bibles for global churches or train pastors in need of resources. Your contribution could go to build toilets, water wells, or homes. Your generosity could even go to support an agriculture or farm project.

4. Pray for the Nations

And in all things, pray. You can pray about which step you might take to support our global programs, for the missionaries we send and ministries we support, and for the nations.

We are grateful for your partnership as we work with our global ministries like Howard’s in providing support to vulnerable youth around the world.