Giving Hope to Guatemala
Transforming Futures brings hope and opportunity to Guatemala’s most at-risk youth—children growing up in severe poverty and orphans who have faced abandonment or abuse. Founded in 2019 as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the organization serves hundreds of children each day with nourishing meals in Guatemala City’s garbage dump, one of Central America's largest garbage dumps and a location that is home to many impoverished Guatemalans. The organization also operates a comprehensive life-skills and emotional wellness program designed to help teenage orphans successfully transition into adulthood after leaving institutional care.
With a mission to uplift impoverished youth and teens in Guatemala, Transforming Futures operates from a foundation of Christian compassion and love aimed at changing the lives and futures of Guatemala’s most vulnerable children. By providing nourishing meals, practical life-skills training, and faith-based mentorship their work ensures that every child they serve will have food to eat, opportunities to learn and grow academically, and the chance to experience the love and hope found in God’s presence.
While committed to those most in need in Guatemala City's garbage dump, Transforming Futures has also recently expanded their programs to partner with an organization that serves meals in other rural communities. To the glory of God, they have also built an elementary school outside of Guatemala City to further contribute to transforming the lives of many children in need.
Headquartered in Fenton, Michigan, Transforming Futures equally partners with The Great Commission Foundation Canada through an agency agreement. This partnership enables the organization to issue charitable tax receipts to both U.S. and Canadian donors. 90% of every dollar given by charitable donors goes straight toward their programs and projects.
Founder & Executive Director
Pablo Villagrán, founder and executive director of Transforming Futures Guatemala, was born and raised in Guatemala and has dedicated his life to uplifting the nation’s most vulnerable communities.
Holding a communications undergraduate degree and a master’s in marketing, Pablo has spent many years serving orphans and children living in poverty. Before launching Transforming Futures, he worked with the UN Refugee Agency in Guatemala. He has gained deep experience in humanitarian outreach and project development through local efforts in his community and his many partnerships to ministries and missions. His life reflects a steadfast commitment to service—leading relief initiatives, managing community development programs, and designing impactful communication strategies.
Pablo Villagrán has helped Apostles Brian & Michele Tunstall and the mission teams of Awakening International numerous times gain access into some of the most remote and restricted places of Guatemala for the purposes of God's ministries to the nation and her people. He is counted as a very close friend and trusted partner to the ministries of Awakening International.