Commonwealth Club World Affairs Napa Valley Chapter hosts a local business owner who epitomizes locals acting globally, improving lives in impoverished countries around the world. 

As founder of Developing Communities, Jake Scheidman describes the positive human and community impact of economic development projects in Nicaragua. He highlights partnering with locals to improve the quality of life through projects around schools, athletic facilities, homes and infrastructure. In part two, our speaker describes the rising tide of migration from around the world he sees sweeping across his adopted country, Nicaragua. We will learn about this "other mIgration," a human wave flowing through Central America to escape poverty, discrimination and political turmoil in other countries. We'll hear about its characteristics and first-hand stories from this global phenomenon, channeling through Panama's treacherous Darien Gap and northward to the U.S. border.

About the Speaker

Jake Scheideman, a community-minded activist and dedicated cyclist, is the owner of St. Helena Cyclery, a Napa Valley bike shop that he opened in 1991. In 2004, he founded Developing Communities, Inc., an international nonprofit doing economic development and community work in Central America. As executive director, Jake has been instrumental in driving millions of dollars toward education, housing, poverty reduction and infrastructure improvements in Nicaragua. With 20 years in the region, he has also witnessed the monetization of global migration, human trafficking, migrant stories and political aspects. When not embedded in the Empalme de Boaco, Jake serves on the board of directors of the Vine Trail, a nonprofit building a 44-mile recreational trail running the length of Napa Valley.