About The Dorcas House

Dorcas House began in response to the need to house, feed, educate, and protect
children whose parents are in La Mesa Prison in Tijuana. Built in 1956, La Mesa prison housed up to 6700 prisoners and their families in a facility intended for 600 prisoners. Residents built luxury homes with tiled baths, microwaves, and Jacuzzis, and frequented pizza parlors, tequila bars, and other restaurants. Those who could afford to do so bought $25,000 homes inside the prison. Those who could not lived in the streets. In fact, the prisoners ran the prison, and the prison staff largely remained uninvolved. Hundreds of children lived among thousands of inmates and their spouses.

Sylvia Laborin, Director since Dorcas House reopened, has created an atmosphere in the house and a reputation in the community that is exemplary. Dorcas House, operating in Mexico under the name of Vida Joven de Mexico AC, is one of a very few nonprofits in Mexico that has been approved for tax deductions for contributions made from income earned in Mexico. Dorcas House has provided the funds to operate through donations from over 400 individuals, foundations, trusts, and churches from 25 states and 2 foreign countries.

A partial list of institutional donors includes the following:

Mexican donors can receive a tax deduction for a donation directly to Vida Joven de Mexico. American donors receive a tax deduction through a donation to Dorcas House, and will receive a statement of evidence of a donation to an approved 50(c)(3).