GIBSON SOTO FOUNDATION Information

The Gibson Soto Foundation works to break the poverty cycle by supporting young women from impoverished or marginalized communities in Mexico to complete university-level education and providing additional programs and developmental skills to integrate our women from poverty to middle class. The Gibson Soto Foundation is a 501c3 in the United States and a registered Private Assistance Institution (IAP) in Mexico. Our program focuses on empowering young women of Mexico to break the cycle of poverty through our programs of education, self-development, and life skills. We are helping women from marginalized and impoverished areas become engineers, psychologists, nutritionists, and so much more through our work. We even have a classical pianist! THE PROBLEMS WOMEN FACE The Gibson Soto Foundation believes that education is the starting point supporting young women to rise from poverty; however, this only represents part of the solution. There has been ample international research about women's obstacles in Mexico – particularly the poor – to generate income and improve their living conditions. Many of these obstacles result from gender inequalities, cultural norms, physical and emotional abuse, and lack of government support. Education provides the academic skills a young woman will need to improve their income. Still, greater effort must be made to bridge the gap between poverty and the middle class's emotional and societal norms. Without the growth of these skills, women will continue to struggle. OUR AMAZING YOUNG WOMEN Our young women come from generations of poverty, with the average family being in poverty for 11 generations (equivalent to 211 years). The majority of our women come from the Sierra Gorda mountain range ( Learn More ), and many are indigenous. Our indigenous women are from the Otomi tribe of central Mexico and speak their formal Oto-Manguean language and Spanish.