In
2003, desiring to apply skills acquired through the development
of four senior facilities to the needs of children outside
the United States, Directors and supporters of Village
Enterprises formed a separate 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation,
World Spark, led by Michael Maslowsky, President of Village
Enterprises.
World Spark (originally known
as FEDE) is intended not only to provide charitable goods
and services but to be a flexible, creative instrument
for the betterment of the lives of children throughout
the world. Investing its talent and resources in innovative
problem solving, more than bureaucratic structure, World
Spark first tested its capacities by developing educational
programs for children in Baja, Mexico and Kiserian, Kenya.
With children as its central focus, World Spark employs
a three-fold dynamic of researching, designing, and implementing
programs that respond to the educational, residential
or care needs of children, especially homeless children.
The World Spark process begins
with a frequently expanding dialogue with local communities
and/or agencies. This research phase relies heavily on
listening to the concerns and experience of a variety
of groups and individuals. As a consequence of that dialogue
and willing to think "outside the box" World Spark designs
a proposed response to an agreed upon need. Understanding
that the transition from response to solution requires
flexibility, in the final stage World Spark draws upon
its various relationships and resources to turn response
into solution.
However, the ownership or management
of the resulting project is not determined by World Spark's
investment but rather the best interest of children. If
local leadership has not or cannot emerge (Sacred Heart
Village or Niņos de Guadalupe) World Spark has retained
ownership and management responsibility. However, where
local leadership has the ability and resources to manage
the program (Ancon Children's Project or St. Bernard's
Middle School) a community or group assumes ownership.
Believing children to be the world's
most essential resource, World Spark is dedicated to being
a catalyst in the positive formation of tomorrow's world.