Community Spotlight: Comunidad Connect

The Spirit of the Entrepreneur

At Wealth Builders, giving something back isn't just about returns on an investment. For us, it means providing something to people and communities in need. Join us in supporting Comunidad Connect as we help with new housing in Nicaragua. Comunidad Connect is hosting a musical benefit - the Songs for Good Musical Showcase - on May 27th and hope you'll join us in supporting their for this noble cause.

Comunidad Connect

Jon Thompson was born and raised in Atlanta, GA. After graduating from Centre College, he took a 6-month road trip to surf through Mexico and Central America. There he became fluent in Spanish and met lifelong friends. In Nicaragua, he bade farewell to his two traveling companions and stayed behind as they advanced to Costa Rica and Panama. Jon settled into the small coastal town of San Juan del Sur, where he met his wife the following year and where his entrepreneurial spirit flourished.

After obtaining his Masters of Social Work from Georgia State in 2002, Jon worked for several years at United Way managing Jon moved to lived full time in Nicaragua with his wife Arelis. Upon earning his MSW, Jon managed programs for United Way that focused on affordable homeownership, micro-enterprise development and homelessness in downtown Atlanta communities. In 2005, he moved full time to Nicaragua to launch a bi-lingual periodical called El Puente. Meanwhile, he directed a local education foundation and started a food truck specializing in chicken wings.

In 2007, he transformed El Puente into a community development organization by co-founding Comunidad Connect (CC) as a US-registered non-profit to alleviate poverty in Central America and the Caribbean. That same year, he became partner in a 250-acre organic coffee farm in the highlands of Nicaragua called Finca El Peten. What started as environmental awareness, microenterprise development, and youth sports programs in San Juan del Sur expanded over the year to include community health, housing, and food security programs in the community, where Finca El Peten is located – called Los Robles.

Jon Thompson and Mat Mendonca (co-founders of Nica Agua program) with local residents

Finca El Peten

Los Robles (pop 2,100) is comprised of subsistence coffee farmers previously with little access to health services, job security, and dignified housing. CC began partnering with Los Robles leaders and health promoters by launching the Nica Agua program, which provided point of use ceramic water filters, education, and monitoring for over 90% of the community. Nica Agua quickly expanded its footprint to reach 7,500 people in Nicaragua since inception.

International Medical Mission

Caring for special needs patient

Nica Agua program provides clean water via ceramic filters, education, and monitoring

Authentic investments by the local community are crucial, and Nica Agua established 16 hours of community service as the “currency” local families used to receive a water filter. This volunteerism continued long after Nica Agua, ultimately urging CC to build a health clinic in Los Robles in 2014. Local residents invested thousands of hours of volunteer labor, and CC began its work in community health.

Comunidad Connect is now managing year-round community health programs for over 4,000 people that provide food for the hungry, housing for the homeless, and medical attention for the sick. Close to a thousand youth participate in our sports program, and CC will build 10 houses in 2021.In 2015, Jon returned to Atlanta, where he now lives with his wife Arelis, son Jon Rockett, and daughter Camila. Jon is CEO of Comunidad Connect, board member of the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative, and owner of the direct trade coffee company - Sustainable Trade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDjONL7SnOs LEARN MORE: COMUNIDADCONNECT.ORG