NEW HOMES, NEW BEGINNINGS

Many residents of San Diego’s sister city, Tijuana, live in poverty, without access to adequate food, shelter, medical care or educational opportunities. We are committed to helping our neighbors across the border. Since April 2016, we have partnered with Project Mercy, by sending volunteer teams to change the lives of poor families by building homes and bringing stability and safety. IRT sends teams of 25 volunteers to the community to build a 16 x 20 single-story home in just one day.

We built 24 homes in the informal settlement community called Colonia Fuentes del Valle in the eastern part of Tijuana from April 2016 to May 2019. This settlement of 150 families is populated mostly by migrants, most from central Mexico, searching for better opportunities. The cost of living and low wages often leaves these families with insufficient funds to build houses. As a result, Fuentes del Valle has become a sea of rudimentary shelters built from scrap materials. These structures leave families exposed to the elements and vulnerable to disease. In all, IRT sent 641 volunteers and 21 teams to Fuentes del Valle.

IRT is now working in the colonia of San Nicolas in Tijuana, about six miles southeast from Fuentes del Valle. The community has no running water or electricity and roughly 20 families currently live there in rudimentary shelters built from scrap materials.

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VIDEOS:

WATCH: One family's life change in one day.

WATCH: a time lapse video of how we build a house in just one day:

Mexico

map:

Population below poverty line:

52.3%

Total Expenditure on health per capita:

$677.19

Under five mortality rate:

Physicians Density:

Life Expectancy:

School Life Expectancy:

13 years

Literacy Rate:

GDP per capita:

$18,400

Children Under the age of 5 years underweight:

Unemployment rate:

Population:

% without health insurance:

% of persons living in poverty:

% of high school graduates:

Median household income:

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