Empowerment International, (EI) a Colorado registered nonprofit 501(c)3, has been working in Nicaragua since 2004.  EI offers community-based holistic educational programs to children and families in two extremely impoverished communities in Nicaragua. Most of the families live on less than $2/day and most adult members of the community have an average of a third-grade education and do not always understand the value of the long-term benefits of educating their children.  The goals of EI’s program are to instill the value of education in the families and children and to remove the physical and emotional barriers that prevent regular attendance of school.   This is done through daily home visits where parents are encouraged to send their kids to school and are mentored on how to enhance their children’s education.  In addition, during these visits counseling and emotional support are provided to help them find solutions to barriers, physical or otherwise, that prevent children from attending school.  EI provides material support as well such as mandatory school uniforms, shoes, supplies, tuition, and transportation for rural high school students.  The program participants have access to tutoring, a computer center, a small library and research center, several enrichment activities, and professional counseling.   Since 2009 EI has achieved a program (and school) retention rate of over 95% and the percentage of students that go on from primary school to secondary has been over 90% and rising.