The vision to become a training center for recovery leaders has been in the works since the year 2000 with the graduation of the first generation of men that has gone through the Drug and Alcohol Program of Canaan in Colombia. A need manifested for a training program for these same men who opted to stay on and help others with addiction problems. It started relatively simple by recruiting a director who has the experience and capacity to develop former addicts into leaders in the recovery field. The first training started with curriculum from Dunklin in Okeechobee, Florida and a handful of men willing to be trained. As the training program grew, more men in the program opted to stay. Our reputation as trainers became well known even outside of Colombia including the United States. Programs from several countries began asking for help. More so various institutions from within Colombia are now even asking for training and trained leaders. The growth of the Canaan program in Colombia has also created a very valid need to formalize and develop a new project we now call Canaan International Training Center.
The C.I.T.C. Project will meet various needs:
1. Train and provide leaders for starting new Cities of Refuge (Recovery Programs) in third world countries acting as change agents for their own region.
2. Educate and develop communities in third world countries affected by the illicit drug trade.
3. Provide alternative solutions other than illicit drugs as means of poverty alleviation.
4. Train social entrepreneurs from the same communities devastated by the illicit drug trade to provide human services.
5. Provide Recovery classes and reconcile families affected by illicit drugs.
Viability of Project:
In our evaluation the Cities of Refuge model for Recovery programs is one of the most cost effective and easily transferable method to curve the epidemic of drug addiction and alcoholism in a community. It has also been proven as a means for community development and poverty alleviation because its method does not only bring addicts into sobriety but also instill leadership skills and trade skills in them to help their communities.
Our goal is to setup Cities of Refuge in third world countries suffering from major alcoholism and drug addiction problems. To successfully build these centers the priority would be to train leadership from the same men who have come in to the Recovery program for help. This method has been proven for the last 45 years and can be seen in some parts of the United States, Colombia, Costa Rica, South Africa and Estonia.
Sustainability of Project:
All of the Cities of Refuge that C.I.T.C. will establish would include sustainable agriculture and region specific industries that would help them become self-sustaining. C.I.T.C. will also implement leadership-training programs in each one of these Cities of Refuge to continuously reproduce local leadership and allow them to be learning organizations. C.I.T.C. operations will be sustained by monthly donors, fees from workshops, seminars and training sessions in the communities, sales of agricultural products from experimental station, sales of life skills manuals to general public and a percentage of net sales of products from other Cities of Refuge industries established.
Distribution of Funds:
Distribution of funds raised are divided into two categories
A. Capital Funds
B. Operational funds
(Capital Investment)
1. Housing for the director of training and interns coming from other parts of Colombia and other countries.
2. Housing for families who completed the Regeneration program and are opting to stay on as trainees.
3. Office and classroom/lab for training purposes.
4. 3 Desktop computers for virtual training and lab work for interns.
Total capital cost: $ 185,500.00
3 Computers $ 3,500.00
Office Equipment $ 2,000.00
Family Housing $80,000.00 per duplex (2 duplex total needed)
Training Facility $20,000.00 (90% completed) originally $ 75,000.00
and short term intern housing
(Monthly Operational Expenses)
5. Scholarship fund for underprivileged families in training.
6. Salaries for director of training and extension agents to do on site training for other Recovery Programs.
7. Curriculum development and Spanish translation.
8. Sustainable Agriculture Experimental Station
Total Monthly Expense: $ 20,000.00
Salaries: $ 2,300.00
Curriculum Development: $ 2,900.00
Extension agents and Ag. Station: $ 9,000.00
Scholarship: $ 3,000.00
Admin and Travel: $ 2,800.00
Staff Housing
This is an on going project of Canaan International for the Canaan Regeneration Program in Colombia. A very essential method we use in the Cities of Refuge model is mentorship where the staff members and their families closely relates with the men in the program and their families. It is very important that the staff lives within the camp as a model for those who are going through the program. The men get to see former addicts live healthy lives with their families and learn from them how to deal with daily problems and relationship conflicts first hand. The other reason for the need to have staff live in the camp is to cut cost in personnel expense and make sure that the staff are adequately taken care of so they can focus in the healing of families seeking help.
Current Need:
There is a current need of 3 more houses for staff in Canaan. Two single family homes and one house for 5 single staff members.
Cost:
Single Family Homes: $ 65,000.00 per house (we need 2 Houses)
Single men’s Home: $ 80,000.00
Total cost: $145,000.00
Bread of Life
This project was conceived to maximize the impact of a contributor to the community we are serving. Each donor will purchase $ 30.00 dollars worth of bread monthly from Canaan and we distribute the bread to various orphanages, poverty stricken schools and the women’s Refuge on a weekly basis. With a single donation every month the contributor will help rehabilitate drug addicts and alcoholics and at the same time help feed several children and women’s ministries in the Barranquilla, Colombia area. This project allows Canaan to promote cooperation and networking between local foundations increasing our effectiveness in the community.
For further information on how you can participate as a sponsor of the Bread of Life project please write us at info@canaaninternational.org
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