Project Luz reaches out to teens in Mexico’s most “hopeless” neighborhood but needs help in achieving their goal

LatinaLista — Ever hear of Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl in Mexico?
If you haven’t, no surprise. It’s hardly a place the country is proud to claim as its own. In fact, even the natives are afraid to venture within the boundaries of this low-income, crime-ridden, drug-infested, gang-prone area.

Nezahualcoyotl is build on the ancient shallow lake, Texcoco.
(Source: thedagger.com)
In the 2005 census, it was reported that 1,140,528 people call Nezahualcoyotl home. That makes it the second most populous municipality in the state of México, and the eighth largest in the country — and it’s only 10 kilometers from Mexico City but it has a population density 3.4 times more dense than the Districto Federal (Mexico City).
The inhabitants of this infamous area are just trying to survive another day in a world where violence is as commonplace as the trash that blows freely in the streets.
Last October, the monthly Mexico City-based magazine, Inside Mexico, published an article about Nezahualcoyotl. The article, “Notes from a place you won’t go: Ciudad Neza,” (Neza is what the inhabitants call their city), detailed what life is like for the families that continue to live there.
The story inspired the non-profit group, Project Luz, of San Francisco to choose the children of Ciudad Nazahualcoyotl for their next project. The mission statement of Project Luz is “Seeking to empower and inspire the children of Latin America.”
The group does this by supplying children with digital cameras to document their surroundings. By doing this, the group wants to “teach Neza teens photojournalism and story-telling skills, while creating awareness about social issues present in their lives.”
In June, Project Luz plans on sending a team of volunteer photojournalists to teach the city’s teens (13-17), but they need a few more donations.
– 20 digital cameras.
– Teaching facilities in Nezahualcoyotl.
– Accommodations for volunteering photographers.
– Transportation of students during workshop.
Also, the group has figured out that they will need a budget of $7,000 to make the project a success. So far, they haven’t identified any funding sources but according to their website — “Project Luz and photographers are committed to this project on a volunteer basis.”
To help out, contact Jasmin at Project Luz.