Updates
- VILA Volunteers Blog: Read updates from volunteers in the field and alumni at our new blog!
- Frequently Asked Questions: check out the new FAQs page.
- mailing list: Subscribe to our mailing list to receive notifications on VILA events and application information.
Mission
Volunteers in Latin America (VILA) connects proficient Spanish-speaking students interested in international development with meaningful service-learning opportunities in Latin America. On a small scale, we advance the education and dignity of children and their families.
Vision
The members of Volunteers in Latin America envision a world in which all children have access to food, shelter, health care, physical safety, and a caring adult. There are approximately 100 million street and working children in the world, and forty million of them live in Latin America; through facilitating international service opportunities for future change-makers, we strive to turn numbers into faces and apathy into social action.
Guiding Principles
VILA aims to promote sustainable development by working, collaborating, and assisting with local community organizations, value and utilize community knowledge and resources in the implementation of programs, enhance youth leadership and empowerment, build personal relationships, facilitate transparent dialogue and cross-cultural understanding through international volunteer and service-learning opportunities, encourage critical social reflection and personal growth, and provide financially feasible volunteer opportunities.