Presence and Partnership
Catalyzing Hope for Chilean Youth
Oct 21th, 2025 | Ashley Hendrickson
At One Collective, we’ve found that an important step in creating lasting change in a community is identifying a leader who can bring people together around a shared vision for change. In the communities we serve all around the world, we call these leaders Catalysts. A Catalyst’s job is to spend time working with local leaders, government, other organizations, and global partners to identify needs and strengths, invite stakeholders to take ownership of a shared mission, and facilitate collaboration between different parties.
Rachel and Alonso Silva have been serving as Catalysts with One Collective in Santiago, Chile for nearly 8 years. They primarily serve youth and adolescents under the care of the Chilean government through a program called Significant Connectors, which is designed to build long-term, trust-filled relationships with youth living in residential group homes. Significant Connectors:
Facilitates creative, hands-on activities hosted by local church partners that are designed to create moments of joy and connection through shared experiences like bike repair, baking, hiking, or music workshops;
Hosts group workshops in residential homes that have a biblically-rooted, relational focus, covering topics such as managing emotions, healthy communication, positive identity, and building trust;
Connects youth with caring adults through a robust one-on-one mentorship program, grounded in the vision of local Chileans becoming an extended family for adolescents living in group homes — offering love, consistency, and hope through committed presence, and ensuring these young people are not alone as they transition into adulthood and life beyond the protective system.
Bringing People Together
The Silvas have brought a dynamic and multicultural network of volunteers and partners together around their mission to plant hope and facilitate meaningful relational bonds between youth and community members. This includes:
25 active, trained volunteers who lead workshops as part of the Connector Program. They are primarily Chileans and Latin American immigrants (from Venezuela, Ecuador, and Colombia) who have made Chile their home.
10 personal Connectors, also volunteers and from diverse Latin American backgrounds, who provide consistent, one-on-one mentoring relationships with teens living in residential care.
10 local partner churches, representing a variety of theological traditions and neighborhoods, deeply committed to holistic ministry and youth support.
Ongoing collaboration with Chilean government protective services, particularly in the areas of adolescent residential care and child welfare.
Strategic partnerships with businesses and universities to create an ecosystem that supports first job opportunities and continuity of studies for youth.
7 board members, representing different local churches and denominations, who lead Somos Parte (“We Are Part”), the Chilean NGO that oversees and runs these programs.
Deepening Partnership
This summer, partnership with the Chilean government continued to grow deeper as Rachel and Alonso signed a written agreement that formally recognizes the spiritual and relational support Significant Connectors offers to at-risk youth and makes it possible for the program to officially be part of the group homes' care plans.
This is an exciting step of collaboration that empowers each party to follow up more intentionally, evaluate, and grow the work together. It also opens the door to expanding the Significant Connectors model not just in Santiago, but in other locations across Chile.
Partnerships like these are made possible by years of loving commitment and witness to the ways of Jesus. Rachel writes, “Although there have been valid concerns about a faith-based organization working with the government, we’ve always been respectful in how we share our faith, and the Lord has given us great wisdom in approaching this partnership in a way that is transparent and understandable to the government. Over time, our consistent presence and the visible transformation in the lives of the children have spoken for themselves. The government now openly acknowledges that we provide spiritual support—and they recognize it as a necessary component in each child’s developmental journey.” Being a ministry that prioritizes long-term relationships also meets a deep need for the government, especially for youth who age out of the system and lack a support network. Finally, Rachel, Alonso, and their team of volunteers and church partners are able to bear witness to God’s love among government workers through this partnership, whose hearts are being touched and impacted, too.
What is unfolding in Santiago is a clear picture of One Collective’s values in action: long-term presence, deep relationships, and community-led transformation. As Catalysts, Rachel and Alonso have done more than launch a program—they have nurtured a network where local leaders, churches, volunteers, and government partners share ownership of a common mission. Rachel reflects, “This team reflects a beautiful mix of cultures, experiences, and stories. While Alonso and I are the only full-time staff, the strength of our work lies in the deep relational investment and ownership from our broader local community. Our team is not American-led in a traditional sense, but rather rooted in local partnerships and multicultural collaboration.” This is the essence of the Catalyst model: not leading from the outside, but empowering from within, so that lasting change grows out of the community itself.
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