Salt Lake City — Cotopaxi, a certified B Corporation™, adventure  gear and apparel brand, announces their impact partnership through the Cotopaxi Foundation with CARE Ecuador (CARE) to bolster their work in ensuring community resilience through the lens of gender equity. Funding will support CARE’s efforts in Ecuador supporting immediate disaster relief as well as community food security through agricultural and business training for women, to increase resilience, yields and access to the marketplace.

CARE’s overall programming focal points include Sexual and Reproductive Health, Water, Sanitation and Hygene, Food and Nutrition Security, Shelter, and Cash/Voucher Payments. CARE focuses these interventions on some of the most vulnerable forcibly-displaced as well as host community members — especially women, adolescents and girls, the LGBTIQ+ population and young men.

Cotopaxi has a deep-rooted mission to combat extreme poverty through access to education, healthcare and livelihoods, and  CARE’s commitment to assisting those most vulnerable in the current Venezualan migrant and refugee crisis within Ecuador,  strongly aligns with this mission. CARE works hard to improve the living conditions of the most vulnerable populations, trying to eradicate poverty in the pursuit of social justice. 

“We are in continuous pursuit of making positive, lasting change within the communities we work with,” explains Charlie Clark, Director of Giving and Cause Marketing at Cotopaxi. “Cotopaxi has deep connections to Ecuador and the people there, so it wasn’t a hard decision for us to choose CARE Ecuador as our next impact partner.  It’s critical for us to continue working to empower and support the communities we work within, and we are inspired by the efforts of the CARE Ecuador team toward alleviating some of the difficulties Venezuelan migrants and refugees are facing in Ecuador, while empowering marginalized groups to establish long-lasting support systems. ”

“CARE is delighted to establish this new relationship with Cotopaxi to provide humanitarian support to the people of Cotopaxi, Ecuador,” says Madden Manion, Executive Director, Corporate Partnerships at CARE USA. “Cotopaxi, like CARE, is driven by purpose and a strong social mission. Together we’re able to make strategic investments that will provide urgent care for women and their families who face tremendous obstacles, while also building long-term resilience.”