A CASC participant in Guatemala interacts with school children during a community service project.
Hope. Confidence. Belonging.
Many youth in northern Central America strive to find alternatives to irregular migration. USAID’s projects under the Central American Service Corps provide them a path to stay at home and invest in a successful future.
WHAT IS CASC?
Young people in northern Central America are looking for meaningful opportunities to build a future rooted at home. The Central American Service Corps (CASC, or in Spanish, Cuerpo de Servicio Centroamericano) aims to address the range of challenges youth face in the region.
At the 9th Summit of the Americas in June 2022, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris launched CASC, a U.S. interagency initiative funded in part through the Central America Youth Empowerment Program (CAYEP), to reduce youth migration from targeted communities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. CASC aims to reach approximately 60,000 youth from northern Central America over a span of five years.
With the support of public, private, philanthropic partners, USAID implements the CASC initiative in all three countries to help generate leadership potential and optimistic outlook among youth. USAID’s coordination of CASC builds upon a bedrock of regional expertise and success, including a youth service pilot program launched in 2021 by USAID, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Salvadoran NGO Glasswing International; a community service program for young adults led by Partnership for Central America (PCA) and Glasswing International; the Peace Corps’ host country partnerships; the Inter-American Foundation’s broad partner network; and private sector supporters.
CASC gives young people paid community service opportunities, mentorship, job and life skills, and a path to future employment. Each project marks a milestone in the agency’s commitment to support expanded opportunities for northern Central American youth. Each participant represents a future full of possibilities.