Our Story
Who We Support
Pulseras
School Sales
Photo/Video
Student Trips
What We Do
The Pulsera Project buys hand-woven pulseras from young Nicaraguan artisans and artisan families and sells them mostly through U.S. schools. We provide sustainable, fair-trade employment and dramatically expand economic opportunities for many Nicaraguans. We support youth shelters, fund scholarships, provide loans, and support community development projects run by members of our pulsera makers’co-op of shelter “graduates”.
We partner with other non-profit organizations who share our belief that economic aid is just one part of a mutual exchange among people who share knowledge, ideas, and life experiences for the benefit of all.
Leadership
Pulsera sales create leadership opportunities for students interested in social justice and international service. Scores of sale leaders have organized more than two thousand volunteers at 170 public and private schools, and have sold an amazing 70,000 pulseras in the past two and a half years. The Pulsera Project's success is due to student leaders and activists who organized and executed successful sales on behalf of the Nicaraguan artists and youths. The Pulsera Project is a colorful testing ground for those who want to experience the challenges and rewards of leadership.
Pulsera Project leaders emerge from all walks of life: community service fraternities, Spanish clubs, autism support classes, art classes, universities, middle and elementary schools, and high school seniors undertaking senior graduation projects.
The Pulsera Project also leads travel adventures. Several times a year we lead student delegations deep into Nicaragua and its culture. On these service trips we travel, eat, build, read, surf, hike, work and play with the youths and adults who are part of our extended Nicaraguan family. For many, the trips are life-changing experiences.
Education
The Pulsera Project team and student volunteers educate many people about life in Nicaragua. Through documentary film, student travel writing, social media, school presentations, and countless photographs, we dissolve U.S. borders and open students' minds to humanity abroad.
Students learn about deep economic poverty in Nicaragua, but they also learn to see beyond economics to the value of broad cultural exchange. Nicaraguan culture is rich in easy rhythms, friendly people, and vibrant colors that truly color our world.
The Pulsera Project is "service learning" at its best. Students learn by solving "real world" problems through action and civic engagement.
The project specializes in bringing compelling Spanish language curriculum to classrooms through bi-lingual project films and stories about Hispanic culture and youth. Schools receive everything at no cost.
Service
Since 2009, Pulsera Project volunteers have raised more than $300,000 to empower young Nicaraguans, youth shelter organizations, and Nicaraguan communities. Volunteers support fair trade, deliver economic aid, and embrace rich and progressive ideas about volunteer service.
Pulsera Project volunteers define service as more than a “feel good” experience focused on the things that we give. We value those we serve as compassionate and giving people in their own right, able to affect us, change us, and enrich our understanding of the world. We open our hearts and minds to the gifts of others and we value them as equal partners in a shared journey. We deliver aid with humility, understanding that economic aid is just one element in an enriching exchange.
We embrace the world of service with curiosity – searching for bright ideas and novel ways to create a just, uplifting, and colorful world. We explore Nicaraguan neighborhoods and US classrooms, textbooks and village elders, the past and new frontiers, in search of better ways to support and connect with people of all cultures.
