COAR Peace Mission is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Cleveland that works with resilient youth in Zaragoza, El Salvador by providing shelter, education, and holistic health care. COAR offers residential foster care for young women who are survivors of trafficking and abuse, as well as a K-12 school that serves more than 1,100 students in the community.
COAR’s Executive Director, Kyle Carter, is an RPCV who served in El Salvador from 2010-13 as well as a former Peace Corps Recruiter. In 2025, NORVA supported COAR with a grant to promote greater collaboration between COAR and Peace Corps Youth Development volunteers in El Salvador. Read more about this collaboration below:
Scholarship students studying at COAR recently dedicated a morning to developing goals in line with their values and devising actionable plans to work towards achieving them, with help from six visiting Peace Corps Volunteers who facilitated a series of three activities.
The COAR School has been serving the Zaragoza community for nearly five decades. In addition to the residents of the Children’s Village, COAR funds full scholarships for more than 100 students who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. These scholarships are based on a combination of need and merit, ensuring that high-achieving students from Zaragoza and surrounding areas are given the opportunity to access a high-quality education regardless of their financial means.
This workshop, which coincided with the start of the new school year in El Salvador, marked the first step in a broader effort to supplement COAR’s economic scholarships with enrichment activities aimed at nurturing scholarship students’ growth and development as young leaders in their communities.
Pictured below are some of the Peace Corps El Salvador Volunteers who facilitated the day’s events as well as some Peace Corps staff in attendance to support them. Keep reading below the picture for more details on the workshop!
The day began with the Collage of Me, an activity designed to ground students in their current identities, their hobbies, strengths, and aspirations, and help them articulate a vision of who they are today. From there, students moved into the River of Life, a reflective exercise in which they mapped out their past experiences, present circumstances, and future ambitions. As part of this activity, they also considered the challenges they may face ahead, the support networks available to them, and the strategies they might use to overcome obstacles along the way.
The final activity, Five Corners, shifted the focus toward concrete planning, providing students with information on potential career paths and facilitating open discussion about future life goals. Students were encouraged to think critically about how to focus their coursework during high school to best position them for their chosen field, and to explore how collaboration across different areas of study could strengthen their prospects. Together, the three activities gave students both the self-awareness and the practical tools to begin translating their values into meaningful, achievable goals.
The Peace Corps Volunteers, who live and work in villages throughout other parts of El Salvador, are eager to continue visiting and collaborating with the school on future projects under the leadership of the school’s director, Jorge Renderos.
Note: COAR Executive Director Kyle Carter joined NORVA’s board as Co-President in May of 2026!