Centro De Compartimiento was birthed from the Servant Leadership Program of Center for Sharing, Pasco WA, in an effort to offer opportunities for personal and leadership formation for young people in Oaxaca. Center for Sharing (CFS) became aware of the needs of the people of Oaxaca due to the migrant workers from the region who had concerns for their families back home. These workers saw the need of the community to have leaders with the abilities to create positive change in their communities and reduce the need for families to be torn apart by financial needs. Community members in Oaxaca had seen CFS work in the area over the past 22 years and expressed an interest in a partnership for supporting a leadership program for young people.   Founding members include, Dr. Jorge Florentino Lopez Lopez, Dr. Eva Gonzalez, Maria Guadalupe Perez, Cheryl Broetje, Glenn Cross and Rene Aredondo Cruz.  Centro de Compartimiento was incorporated as a Civil Association under Mexican law in June of 2005, the local board was formed and Centro de Compartimiento (CDC) opened the Casa Angeles program, a residential Servant Leadership program, in Juchitan in February 2006 with five young women.  The contemporary meaning for the phrase 'Servant Leadership' was coined in the 1960's by Robert Greenleaf, who writes that the best test of the servant leader is: "do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will he/she benefit, or, at least, not be further deprived?"

The Casa Isabel program was founded in September of 2006, by Kristin Lietz, a mission worker from the Chicago area. Ms. Lietz had worked in other not for profits in Juchtian for five years when she joined the CDC team in 2005 to help assess the needs of the young people in the program.  The Casa Isabel program was founded after a local needs evaluation showed that students from marginalized communities rarely  make it to the university due to lack of access to middle and high school. Casa Isabel became a legally recognized branch of CDC in summer of 2007.   The program addresses the needs of younger students who would not continue their education due to location or financial difficulties.  Casa Isabel welcomed its first students in a rented facility in August of 2006 and in February of 2008 purchased property to begin construction on a new facility for the program.  In March 2009 we began remodeling the building on the property to move the program to its permanent home.