On a Monday morning in September, 2019 in Medellin, Colombia, three women had their weekly meeting at Semilla Café Semilla cafe in the Laureles neighborhood. Snugly ensconced in what they affectionately called their “private tiki hut,” Erin, Mar and Sheridan sipped delicious lattes and cappuccinos while passionately planning to launch the nonprofit organization Proyecto Florecer.
The original plan was to offer emotional resilience workshops to local teenage girls with the goal of helping them make positive life choices, avoid toxic relationships and develop a healthy sense of self, but as with so many other things, this plan was interrupted by the arrival of COVID-19 in early 2020.
The team quickly pivoted, and responding to the new needs of the community, they began supporting a group of Colombian and Venezuelan families in Barrio Antioquia with monthly groceries. Each of the heads of household were single mothers trying to raise their children in one of the most difficult neighborhoods in the city, where drug deals go down literally on every corner. They shared their feelings of isolation, worries about putting food on the table, and fears for their children’s futures. In response, Proyecto Florecer opened a community kitchen at the cultural center in that same neighborhood and invited the women to come and serve lunch to people in need in the community. Each shift also participated in workshops that included vocational skills, mental health and physical wellbeing.
The community kitchen quickly became a popular volunteering opportunity for digital nomads from around the world. Personal coaches, entrepreneurs, yoga instructors and therapists facilitated workshops for the women while others simply came to help prepare the food. The volunteers and program beneficiaries all reported a deep sense of community and appreciation for the cultural exchange. Many of the volunteers became long-term supporters even after they left Medellin, like April, who managed the website for three years; Ben, who continues to support technology and project management; and Alejo, who helps with social media.
Once the crisis of the pandemic receded, Proyecto Florecer decided to close the community kitchen at the end of 2023 so they could focus on their core objective of education and expand to other neighborhoods. By summer of 2024 they were delivering a combination of emotional wellbeing programs for women, men and teenagers in 5 neighborhoods, with as many as 28 events per month. Today they also offer vocational programs to help participants develop skills to create their own micro businesses, and in 2025 they introduced the Academy of Emotional Mastery, a multi-week formal curriculum for teenagers and adults.
Proyecto Florecer continues to be run 100% by volunteers and relies on the generous donations of time and money from locals and digital nomads to support their workshops and back-office needs from fundraising to technology management.
