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A landmark collaboration between Indiana University and Benemerita Universidad de Oaxaca (BUO) has expanded the Helping Offenders Prosper through Employment (HOPE) mentoring program to Mexico. Four undergraduate students from BUO were certified as the first-ever HOPE mentors in Mexico, marking a significant step in a new bi-national initiative to support incarcerated youth.

The HOPE program, founded by Theresa A. Ochoa, a professor at the IU School of ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦, pairs an undergraduate student with a young person in the justice system. The newly certified mentors from BUO will begin mentoring youth at Direccion de Ejecucion de Medidas para Adolescentes (DEMA), a youth facility in Oaxaca, focusing their efforts on teaching soft skills essential for employment. Mentors serve as positive role models, helping young people identify goals that will lead to successful employment. The new mentors in Oaxaca will be wearing branded HOPE t-shirts, similar to those worn by mentors in Indiana. 

This inaugural group of mentors is the result of a collaborative effort spearheaded in 2023 by Adabelia Pelaez Garcia, the Dean of the Law program at BUO, and Theresa Ochoa, who has worked in Mexico since 2019 to promote HOPE. In 2024, Liliana Monserrat Olivera Valeriano, Director of BUO’s psychology department, and Attorney Marisol Ramirez Sanchez, an expert in international restorative justice, collaborated in-person and virtually with Ochoa to prepare the undergraduate students for HOPE certification.

The certification ceremony, held at the BUO school of medicine auditorium on August 12, was attended by Karla Jeanett Garces Sanchez, the Director of DEMA. She told the mentors, “The service you are providing will open your eyes to a new perspective.” 

The four new mentors - Mariana Flores Gomez, Miguel Alberto Villavicencio Santos, Danna Dalila Velasco Hernandez, and Daisy Vicente Gutierrez – join the growing community of mentors from IU campuses. The HOPE mentoring program operates on a simple but powerful premise: mentors serve as positive role models, helping young people in correctional confinement identify goals that will lead to successful employment in preparation to reenter society. Employment is a known protective factor that significantly reduces the likelihood of recidivism, the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend.

Another collaborating organization, the Centro de Aprendizaje (Oaxaca Learning Center), will coordinate with HOPE to host a future entrepreneurial workshop at DEMA with the support of mentors from Indiana and Oaxaca.

The HOPE mentoring program's launch in Oaxaca is being met with a great deal of positive expectation for its long-term impact. David Martines Perez, Rector of the BUO has expressed his full backing for this bi-national and multi-disciplinary endeavor.

IU School of ºÚÂí´ÅÁ¦ Dean Robert Berry stated that "This partnership with BUO highlights the universal need for justice-oriented educational interventions,” adding, “The program is a powerful example of a local initiative with significant global impact.” 

The HOPE approach underscores the commitment to providing a pathway to a better future for incarcerated youth.