Our school foods program enhances the daily diets of school children by supplying the food service personnel in Puerto Palomas schools with fresh food and basic staples for healthy meals.
We are delighted to highlight several significant outcomes achieved by Border Partners’ projects in 2025. Now in our 17th year collaborating with the border community of Puerto Palomas, Mexico, to improve outcomes in our program areas of health, education, sustainability, and economic development, 2025 was a busy season full of expansion, reflection, and learning for our team.
Executive Summary Annual Report 2025
This child received her own serving of healthy foods.
This year, Border Partners had the opportunity to leverage grant funding to expand two new projects: a pilot program for our Youth Center “Inspire,” and our work with papercrete, a sustainable building material made of recycled paper mixed with concrete. Other projects, such as our daily Meals on Wheels deliveries to seniors and our work providing mental health counseling in schools, were phased out mid-year as we built capacity and focus to launch our new initiatives. Meanwhile, Border Partners’ daily work in the community gardens, running the computer center, and providing health checks and social gatherings for seniors, as well as nutrition classes in local schools, continued throughout the year. See a snapshot of our impact below:
2025 By The Numbers
Total Beneficiaries Reached….Over 7,000
Total Funds Raised……………….Over $400,000
Volunteer Participation………..Over 30 Active Volunteers
Programs Implemented……….Over 9 Active Programs
Our 2025 Impact by Program Area
Expanding Youth Services and Education
- Youth Center “Inspire” Grand Opening in May 2025: 224 hours of after-school programming for 50 at-risk youth aged 10-17
- Expanded summer school programming for 335 participants in June-July
- Welcomed 3,261 visits to our education and computer center
Improving Community Health and Nutrition
- 1,202 health checks performed by our team of health promoters
- Provided nutrition classes, fresh garden produce supplements, and cooking classes to 605 students across 7 Palomas schools
- Hosted 2 community-wide health fairs attended by 1000+ people
Sustainable Materials for Economic Empowerment
- Our papercrete construction crew built 6 structures at local schools using 7,581 tons of recycled paper diverted from the local dump
- Trained 6 local craftspeople in papercrete production and basic business skills
Cultivating Community in our Gardens
- Harvested 673 pounds of fresh produce from our community gardens to donate to schools and community members in need
- Maintained 3 year-round community greenhouses and 6 greenhouses at local schools and surrounding communities
You Support Our 2025 Annual Report
We extend a special thank you to:
- Paso del Norte Health Foundation
- North American Development Bank
- The Marigold Fund
- Grant County Community Foundation
- Seed Money
- Scott Davies
- … and numerous other generous individual donors.
We could not have accomplished all this without your generous support. Thank you to all our donors, supporters, and volunteers. As we look ahead to 2026, we look forward to working together to build on our successes, learn from our challenges, and grow our capacity to learn and adapt. In everything we do, we help Puerto Palomas and surrounding border communities thrive.