Creating Endless Possibilities Through Education
The mission of Guadalupe Center is to break the cycle of poverty through education for the children of Immokalee.
In the early eighties, Guadalupe Center operated a community soup kitchen at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, providing nutritious food and a safe environment for Immokalee families. Children often used the facility to complete homework, and volunteers noticed the academic challenges they faced. High school students, expected to support their families, often prioritized work over academics. Recognizing a greater need, early volunteers developed a program where high school students were paid to tutor elementary school children. In 1984, a newly formed Board of Trustees registered Guadalupe Center as a non-denominational 501(c)(3), establishing two of our core programs: After-school Tutoring and Tutor Corps.
In 1996, Guadalupe Center’s leadership expanded to serve Immokalee’s youngest residents by offering Early Childhood Education for children six weeks to five years old. Today, Guadalupe Center operates three early learning campuses, two satellite locations affiliated with Collier County Public Schools, and a community wide Smart Start Program. Our reach extends throughout Immokalee, ensuring that families have access to high-quality programming across this rural community.
The After-school Tutoring program has grown to all five Immokalee elementary schools. The program provides students from kindergarten through second grade with homework help, literacy, and math activities throughout the school year and a 6-week Summer Enrichment Program. This initiative also offers meals, social-emotional development, and recreation to promote a balanced, healthy life.
In 2024, Guadalupe Center introduced programming for grades 6-8. The Tutor Corps RISE program, standing for Resilience, Inspiration, Support, and Empowerment, addresses the critical transitional period of middle school, building character, confidence, and self-esteem. The program is designed to prepare students for high school and beyond, making postsecondary education an attainable goal for students in Immokalee.
The middle school program feeds into the college preparatory Tutor Corps program. This robust work-study model supports Immokalee High School students, increasing high school and college graduation rates. Students are paid wages to work as tutors, while accruing scholarship funding for postsecondary plans. Staff and volunteer mentors guide students in academic and character development and provide resources to address mental health and well-being. The program provides students with the opportunity to experience the world beyond Immokalee with pre-college summer experiences and college tours.
Guadalupe Center’s support extends beyond high school, continuing through college and into their careers. A team of staff works with college students to monitor grades, distribute scholarship funds, and work with students to ensure they are on a path to college graduation. Consistent check-ins address both academic and personal challenges, ensuring that students succeed in college and beyond. To date the program has more than 300 college alumni in careers across the country.
Today, our programs serve more than 2,000 students, emphasizing key educational milestones: entering kindergarten ready to learn, being on grade level for reading by third grade, transitioning to and graduating from high school and college. Achieving these benchmarks brightens the future for our students, setting them on a path to a significantly more positive life trajectory.
Guadalupe Center is committed to fostering educational success and breaking the cycle of poverty in Immokalee, one child at a time.
The Guadalupe Center Charter:
We are a purpose driven non-profit organization that exists to create possibilities through education for the students of Immokalee fostering personal and academic success leading to economic independence.
We provide high quality educational programs that empower independent thinkers and life-long learners who positively influence their diverse communities and others.
We are a safe, nurturing, trusting, happy and fun environment for students, families, donors, volunteers, and employees, allowing everyone the freedom to find, fulfill, and live their purpose.
We honor and respect all relationships by operating with honesty, integrity, transparency and open communication. We appreciate and recognize the generosity of the people and partners with whom we collaborate and enable us to fulfill our mission.
Invested in what is possible for our Guadalupe Center students and families, we are fearlessly and humbly committed to leading by example, cultivating today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.
