Background: Barrio Los Fundadores

Barrio Los Fundadores is a small neighborhood located on the outskirts of Santa Marta, Colombia, approximately 20 minutes from the city center. The neighborhood is accessible by taxi or buseta, a ride costing $1200 COP or about $0.53 USD. 

According to the 2005 census conducted by the Junta Communal de Acción del Barrio Los Fundadores (Community Action Committee of Barrio Fundadores), there are approximately 1870 households, with an estimated 3600 children and 3700 adults.

The majority of Los Fundadores residents have limited income and resources, are displaced and vulnerable, and have the lowest SISBEN (System for 
Selecting Beneficiaries of Social Spending) level of 1, which is calculated via geographical targeting and family assessment.

A community needs assessment, the Neighborhood Check-up,* conducted by volunteers of Fundación Mariposas Amarillas (Foundation Yellow Butterflies) in 2012, shed light on a number of pertinent issues experienced in the neighborhood some residents call “the forgotten neighborhood.” The community not only lacks a health center, a public primary school and a public high school, but the residents are also suffering from environmental pollution due to its proximity to the municipal waste dump Palangana. Insecurity was cited as the largest problem the community faces. Over the past year, escalating violence, especially among adolescents and young adults, has become common.

*The Neighborhood Check-up is an instrument developed by Jean Kjellstrand, PhD, in conjunction with the Promise Neighborhoods Research Consortium, an initiative that assists high-poverty neighborhoods in identifying and implementing evidence-based practices. The assessment was adapted by Alis Cobas and Cameron Rasmussen to fit the social, cultural and environmental circumstances for communities in the country of Colombia.