Amigos de las Americas - Building Tomorrow’s Leaders

Urban Green Investments understands the importance of collaborative community building. That’s why the San Francisco-based real estate investment and development firm is a proud supporter of Amigos de las Americas, a non-profit organization helping to build and inspire young leaders through powerful service and leadership programs in Latin America.Amigos de las Americas aims to create a world where every young person can be a catalyst for social change. Through a range of programs of varying lengths—targeting high school students, college students, and students taking a gap year—Amigos offers participants the opportunity to make a real difference in local communities while building their own skills as leaders, experiencing language and cultural immersion, and developing their abilities as collaborators. 

The organization places a strong focus on collaborative community development and immersive, cross-cultural experience. Students live with host families while helping to plan and implement a community development project and participating in local trainings with other young leaders. Program themes range from public health and environmental sustainability to youth entrepreneurship.

In operation for more than 50 years, Amigos de las Americas operates in 17 countries throughout the Americas. The nonprofit works with over 30 community partners every year and has welcomed more than 27,000 participants over the course of its history.

Millennials Bring About Renaissance in San Francisco's East Bay Region

While San Francisco remains a highly sought-after place to live and work, Oakland, its neighbor across the bay, is experiencing a renaissance. A new haven for millennials, Oakland has seen a flood of incoming restaurants and residential, retail, and entertainment ventures. Urban Green Investments is one of several developers that are repurposing and renovating Oakland’s existing buildings to create modern, usable space in which the city’s new population can live and work.

Colliers International, a nationwide brokerage, expects 2015 to be a “pivotal year” for downtown Oakland. A large, yet-to-be-named tech firm is expected to move into Oakland’s business district, where thriving, established companies continue to fill market space. The competitive rental market has benefited Oakland’s reputation among the younger workforce and resulted in large development projects that are changing the face of the East Bay region.