Colombia Partnership
Updated: May 19
Meet our Colombia partner Viviendas Dignas.
Link to the about page of the Colombia website
Viviendas Dignas was founded by Esteban Corchado and Tom Hackett in November of 2021. Their common desire to help families in need of housing and combined strengths as entrepreneurs, were the catalyst that brought about the forming of the nonprofit organization. VD Colombia enables Esteban, Tom, the board of directors, and those that join us to rally people, companies, governing officials, and communities to help families that are in desperate need of housing.
The headquarters of VD Colombia is located in Santa Marta which is on the northern coast of Colombia, in the department of Magdalena. It is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range to the south. Santa Marta, which is the oldest city in Colombia has a population of around 500,000. It was founded in 1525 by the Spanish conqueror Rodrigo de Bastidas. Santa Marta is a popular tourist destination in Colombia due to its beautiful beaches, natural attractions, and historical landmarks. One of the unique features of Santa Marta is its proximity to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, which is the highest coastal mountain range in the world. It is in the mountains close to Santa Marta where many coffee communities grow coffee and where we are building homes for coffee worker families.
Viviendas Dignas staff have worked hard to obtain "Special" status as a nonprofit organization and added important board members to the directional team. We are looking forward to a productive future together as Coffee Homes and Viviendas Dignas partner to help families with homes throughout Colombia.
Partnerships are a recurring theme and strategy of Coffee Homes. In order to serve more families (scale) and make a broader impact (more locations) with less overhead as it relates to staff, equipment, cost, and time we reap the benefits that partnering provide. We work towards being as "local" as possible. We value and work towards empowering locals at each level of the process as possible.
In order to build more homes in more countries we partner with federal and state governments when possible, as well as associations, local community leaders, and local farm owners to strategize and coordinate the building of the homes as they partner with local suppliers and labor.
In order to finance the homes we partner with coffee shops and related businesses to leverage the circles of influence they have to encourage generous donors among their employees and customers to fund homes for families in need of housing.
And Coffee Homes partners with existing like-minded and purposed nonprofit organizations in the countries where the homes are to be built.
