19 February 2014

PN- The community of Piedades Norte is in a difficult situation.  They have computers, but no place to use them.  With their previous place having been demolished and an offer on the table from INA (National Learning Institute) to teach free computer courses, the community is now in scrambling to build an adequate classroom.  That’s where Costa Rica Frika and the University of Minnesota Construction Management class got involved.

The construction management class from the Northern U.S. university came down for two weeks in January and worked tirelessly to provide the community with some building solutions to house their computers.  In the end, they were able to budget and estimate three different solutions for the community, two of them which utilized an existing community structure.

The community was overjoyed to receive the proposals. Now armed with construction ideas,  they have moved on to fundraising for the project.

With estimated costs projected to be around 25 million colones (approx. 50,000USD), the community is actively looking to raise money to make this project a reality.  Costa Rica Frika began the drive by donating 350 thousand colones (approx 700USD) to help support the engineering and architectural costs of the project.  If you would like to donate or get involved in the project please contact dustin@costaricafrika.com for more information.