About Us

Vimenti was created to provide Puerto Rican children, families and communities with strong academic and emotional support to help transform their lives, thereby restoring vibrancy to our Island and creating a future workforce to be a partner in the economic development of the island.

What is Vimenti?

For 50 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico (BGCPR) has delivered comprehensive services to youth. BGCPR has been extraordinarily successful in scaling up to meet thousands of children's needs- we are currently the largest youth serving organization in Puerto Rico, with 13 locations that serve over 15,000 youth each year. We provide safety and support during critical hours of the day, strong role models, and organized programming around education, health and life skills, the arts, leadership, and sports & recreation. Yet, given the complex and persistent issues in Puerto Rico, such as violence, hunger, poverty and the current economic crisis, BGCPR must look to move to a comprehensive economic development vision.

In August 2018, the full Vimenti two-generation model launched including the first public Charter School in Puerto Rico. Our goal is to develop a community of committed life learners with children on the path to demonstrate grade based developmental and academic competencies and skills.

With the overarching goal of supporting children, youth and families, we are developing an evidence-based model that provides support, skills and experience to children and families so they come out of poverty into economic security.

What is Vimenti?

Vimenti is an integrated services center for the entire family, with three pillars: educational, social and economic development. It was created by Boys and Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico as a two-generation service model to provide development and financial security to children, youths and adults as well as their parents. Located at the Ernesto Ramos Antonini Housing Project in San Juan, Vimenti currently runs Puerto Rico’s first charter school, has an afterschool program for children and youths and has a work training and development program for youths and adults in tourism, hospitality and entrepreneurship. In the entrepreneurship area, Vimenti has Project Makers, which offers the opportunity to create business ideas or develop existing businesses.

Vimenti Summary of Services

Evaluation of families with action plans
100% Families with action plans
Follow-up to families at least once a month
Health services screening to students: Psychometric, vision and hearing, student eyeglasses, oral health, workshops.
Employability and Careers Program
Breakfast for the whole family of Vimenti School

Workforce Development

Vimenti Core Areas

Born through collaboration between Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico and the Youth Development Institute; Vimenti encompasses three core areas 1) Education, 2) Social and 3) Economic Opportunities. Recognizing that family is key to a child’s academic success, the Vimenti models enrolls the whole family, providing case management, emotional intelligence support, and health and wellness complementary services.

EDUCATION

At Vimenti, education is the bedrock of our mission. We are committed to consistently improve and strengthening our abilities to help children advance to mastery in all aspects of the learning process. Education is the cornerstone for breaking the cycle of poverty.

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SOCIAL

The Social Area and family strengthening promotes a holistic approach to intervention with families. Designed following the Two Generation approach, the social pillar seeks to provide necessary tools so families can overcome the pitfalls of living below the poverty level.

This area focuses on delivery of services under the delivery of Case Management, Emotional Intelligence and Health and Well-being.

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ECONOMIC

The Economic Area aims to increase the opportunities for children, youth and their family to acquire or develop a job. With this we help igniting a micro ecosystem to foster economic mobility in low-income communities.

It will tackle three economic development opportunities: (1) business ideas and entrepreneurial mindset creation, (2) legitimization of informal economic activities, and (3) micro and small businesses growth. These three areas respond to the major challenges that low-income communities face as they strive for economic stability and improvement.

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