El Salvador ambassador provides grant to Convoy of Hope

The U.S. ambassador to El Salvador has presented Springfield-based Convoy of Hope a $60,000 grant.

The ambassador, Mari Carmen Aponte, earmarked the funding for Mothers' Club programs in El Salvador, designed to help poverty-stricken women learn entrepreneurial skills, according to a news release.

“In El Salvador, we are encouraging microenterprise and women in business by minimizing barriers to their success,” said Andrea Frey Metzger, Convoy's Latin America regional manager, in the release. “We’re extremely grateful for the support of Ambassador Aponte and the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. This will help us provide women in the program with long-term financial and emotional security.”

Convoy has invested more than $150,000 in El Salvador to train women in health nutrition, hygiene, literacy, agriculture and emotional care. Since the founding of Mothers' Clubs in 2011, 503 women have graduated and the program is expanding into Honduras and Nicaragua, according to the Springfield nonprofit.

“This program is important in that it allows women to make healthy financial decisions that will help improve their well-being and the sustainability of their families and communities,” Aponte said in the release.