New Story: A Home For Everyone
We believe that a home is not just a collection of rooms held together by bricks and mortar.
A home is where life happens. When you don’t have a home, it is hard to sustain a life. In honor of our amazing clients and community, we have partnered with New Story to build a house in their newest community in Mexico. Thanks to you, we are giving a family a new story!
When we market properties for sale, we use the power of words, photos, and videos to tell the story and create a vision of the life that might be lived in that home. When we work with buyers, we work together to visualize their life in potential homes they view.
On this page you’ll find information about New Story as well as updates on the specific family we have sponsored and their new community.
About New Story
New Story is a non-profit working to create a world where no human being lives in survival mode. They believe that home and land ownership can be a path out of poverty and aim to raise standards for all organizations and initiatives that address housing for the base of the pyramid. They work to build both homes and communities with a strong focus on local impact. Their process (below, from their website) highlights these important aspects of their process.
LEARN FROM LOCALS
Local partners who have extensive experience working with underserved populations allow us to learn faster than we would on our own. Understanding of the community is imperative to our process and allows us to start projects with a strong foundation. (Figuratively and literally.)
PEOPLE FIRST DESIGN
We begin our community process by learning from those who will be living in the community. Their input, feedback, and experience are vital to building a community that will be transformative for generations to come.
COMMUNITY PLANNING
We don’t build one-off homes. Planning what will grow to be a thriving community of 50+ homes means we center our urban planning around schools, play areas, and income opportunities.
LOCAL WORKERS & LOCAL MATERIALS
By training local labor and buying locally sourced construction materials, New Story not only builds homes and communities, but we stimulate local economies and teach transferable skills in the process.
MEASURE IMPACT
Our impact data program allows us to learn from every home we build. Gathering data on families through surveys before families move into their home and following-up after home intervention allows us to understand the true impact of a home.
LEARN & ITERATE
Impact data points are great, but they mean nothing if you don’t learn from them. Using the information gathered, we can make improvements on existing communities and learn how to better serve future families.
The Community We Support
To date, New Story has built homes in Haiti, El Salvador, and Bolivia. The community we are supporting will be one of their first in Mexico - in the state of Morelos. Morelos is located in South-Central Mexico, about 87 miles south of Mexico City. It is notably close to the epicenter of the 2017 Puebla earthquakes, when thousands of homes in the area were destroyed.
Meet the Alcantara Prado Family
Jorge and Gabriela are married and live with their three kids in Totolapan, Mexico. Their kids are Jorge (16), Maria (12), and Nataly (8). They've been living here ever since the 2017 earthquake, which forced them out of their prior home and into a makeshift community. Their previous living place is now considered unsafe to return to, and they must start life over in a new place.
Currently, the Alcantara-Prado family lives under a tarp roof, with no safe hygiene options in the home. Jorge reports that he does not feel safe in his current home, and dreams of a day when his kids will graduate from university. A safe, stable home can provide the foundation for Jorge, Gabriela, and their kids to thrive!
Update: Community Building is Underway
Construction in Morelos, Mexico, is well underway and families will soon begin moving into their new homes in three specific communities: Tlayacapan, Tenosique, and Totolapan. A few homes are waiting on the final touches from government contractors before they can be inhabited. The completed communities will be full of thriving families soon.
As we receive updates from Totolapan, we will post them here. Check back again soon!
