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Our Approach
Catalyst Foundation is passionate about utilizing a community development approach in addressing some of the root causes of poverty. We firmly believe in working collectively with local communities in raising awareness, providing access to education, increasing economic opportunities, and generating a sense of empowerment.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve the lives of at-risk populations in Vietnam through child trafficking prevention and community capacity building. Families living in extreme poverty are most vulnerable to child trafficking. Our goal within each target community is twofold: to equip families with the tools to get out of poverty and to raise awareness of trafficking at the grassroots level in order to strengthen community protective mechanisms.
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History
 In 1998, Caroline Nguyen Ticarro-Parker and her husband Scott Parker traveled to Vietnam to adopt twin girls that had been abandoned at a hospital. It was Caroline’s first visit back to the country since she had left it as a child. They saw children as young as 2 selling postcards and books and begging for money on the streets. Upon their return to the United States, they could not forget the misery of so many Vietnamese children left behind.
The desire to help resulted in the founding of the Catalyst Foundation, in 1999, focused on improving the lives of orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children in Vietnam. Since that time, Catalyst Foundation has provided humanitarian relief programs in the provinces of Vinh Long (1999-2002), Binh Thuan (1999-2002), Saigon (2003-2004, 2007-2009), Dong Thap (2005-present) and Kien Giang (2007-present). Catalyst Foundation also partnered with Lutheran Social Service Minnesota to facilitate international adoptions from Vietnam (2006-2008).
Started in 2001, Catalyst Foundation also sponsors an annual Vietnam Culture Camp in Minnesota and on the East Coast, to promote Vietnamese culture to families that have adopted children from Vietnam. Participating families explore their child's ethnic roots while sharing experiences with other adoptive families.
Our Partners
We rely on the support of our partners to be able to make the biggest success of our work.
 
  
  
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