Building Community in Panama: Inside the Social Initiatives Transforming Neighborhoods

When people think about moving to Panama, they often picture oceanfront condos in Panama City or gated communities in Coronado. But something shift happens when you actually arrive here. Many expats discover that real fulfillment comes from connecting with the community, understanding the local culture, and contributing to meaningful projects. This is exactly what's happening in neighborhoods like Santa Ana, where a generation of foreign entrepreneurs is investing not just money, but their time and passion into preserving Panama's identity while driving sustainable growth. Austin Hess explains this phenomenon perfectly: the draw of Panama goes beyond palm trees and favorable tax policies. It's about finding your place in a vibrant, growing society where your work actually matters to the people around you. According to international relocation surveys, approximately 62% of expats cite community engagement and social connection as primary factors in choosing their long-term relocation destination, outweighing purely financial considerations.

Alexandra Cortez arrived in Panama almost a decade ago for what was supposed to be a three-week vacation. She never left. Instead, she founded Bario Vivo, a social innovation organization operating in Panama's historic districts - particularly in Santa Ana (also called Santana), San Felipe, and Casco Viejo. What started as a passion project has evolved into something genuinely transformative. Over nine years, Bario Vivo has worked with children and young people aged 3 to 25, empowering them through innovation, culture, and sports. The organization operates on a simple but profound principle: kids who see themselves reflected in art, music, and community spaces develop differently. They understand their own talent and potential. They feel connected to their neighborhoods. Cortez describes her approach as creating safe spaces where children can express themselves and feel truly seen. The impact is measurable. Bario Vivo participants have had international art exhibitions, with young musicians performing around the world. The organization recently partnered with Medagene (the Colombian city famous for its transformation through similar cultural initiatives) to bring proven community-building techniques to Panama. One of their most visible projects is the mural experience throughout Santa Ana - but here's what makes it different from typical street art. Bario Vivo consults with neighborhood residents about what they want to see in these murals. The murals reflect community identity, not outside visions imposed on the community. They already have five murals completed with support from both the US and Colombian embassies. Beyond the kids themselves, Bario Vivo impacts entire families. They run gastronomy programs for parents, helping mothers develop culinary skills that can generate income. This multiplier effect - touching kids, families, and community economics simultaneously - is why the organization has gained such strong institutional support and why expat investors in Panama increasingly see cultural preservation as a smart investment alongside property appreciation.

If you've visited Casco Viejo, you've seen what successful gentrification with preserved identity looks like. The neighborhood has maintained its colonial charm, historic significance, and cultural character while becoming a thriving hub for restaurants, galleries, and tourism. Santa Ana is essentially part of the same historic district as Casco Viejo - they're neighboring communities within Panama's Casco Viejo/San Felipe/Santa Ana historic zone. But while Casco Viejo has already completed its transformation, Santa Ana is in the middle of its own evolution. This creates a unique opportunity for both cultural investors and real estate investors. Austin Hess from DoPanama sees this clearly. His company actively works on projects in Santa Ana because they see genuine value in the area's potential - not just for new investors, but for preserving the neighborhood's character while allowing it to grow organically. What makes Santa Ana special is its authentic community fabric. Visit on a weekend and you'll see something that feels increasingly rare in gentrifying Latin American cities: 80-year-old residents playing soccer in neighborhood fields, families gathered in shared spaces, neighborhoods organized around actual community connection rather than individual consumption. Cortez emphasizes the critical difference between what happened in Casco Viejo (successful cultural preservation during growth) versus what happened in many other gentrifying neighborhoods (complete displacement of original residents). The goal in Santa Ana is to ensure that as the neighborhood attracts investment and tourism, the original community doesn't get priced out. This requires intentional projects like Bario Vivo's mural initiative and the involvement of investors like those DoPanama works with who understand that community value and financial value are connected, not opposed.

While Cortez is transforming urban neighborhoods through culture, Thomas Patton is revolutionizing rural living through regenerative agriculture. His farm village concept addresses a problem that many expats discover the hard way: owning land in Panama is not the same as successfully living on land in Panama. Patton came to farming unconventionally. He studied economics but ended up managing a large agricultural operation with pineapple, rice, cattle, and pig operations. Like many farmers worldwide, he watched his profit margins erode as chemical inputs got more expensive, soil degraded, and the fundamental economics of industrial agriculture became unsustainable. Everything changed when he discovered agroecology - essentially applying ecological principles to farm management. He began understanding soil health the way doctors understand human microbiomes. This perspective shift allowed him to transform his operation from a heavy-input, chemical-dependent system to a multi-species regenerative farm that's more profitable, healthier, and more sustainable. His farm sits in Chepo, about 45 minutes past the Panama City airport toward Darién and the Colombian border, near Samblas - one of Panama's most beautiful regions known for incredible biodiversity and bird watching. From this sister farm with 20 years of operational history, Patton created a farm village concept and an agritourism destination called Kokira Soil. The farm village solves the learning curve problem. When expats buy land in Panama, they often face overwhelming challenges: finding reliable contractors, getting veterinary care for livestock, dealing with infrastructure issues, managing seasonal changes they don't understand, and often feeling isolated when they attempt to go it alone. The farm village model addresses this through community support systems and professional services. Residents own private properties within an HOA, but they're part of a managed community with a farming concierge service. Need to build a fence? Call the community services team - they'll provide equipment and labor at transparent rates. Horse needs a vet? They have veterinarians on call. Thinking about leaving for a few months? Someone can manage your property. This support system transforms farm ownership from a risky venture into a genuinely feasible lifestyle choice for expats without farming experience. The underlying philosophy is simple but powerful: humans need more than metropolitan living and fancy city lifestyles to thrive. We need connection to soil, rhythm aligned with seasons, access to genuinely healthy food, and community with like-minded people. Post-pandemic, this craving has intensified. People are searching for clean air, clean water, and food they can trust - three things the farm village delivers.

One observation Austin Hess makes in the podcast crystallizes something many expats discover after moving to Panama: the food here is actually real. When he tried traditional Panamanian meals at local fondas in rural areas, he noticed something striking about the chicken. It had actual bones and actual density - nothing like the engineered poultry from industrialized food systems. This might seem like a small thing, but it points to something much larger: the quality of what you put in your body directly affects your health, energy, mental clarity, and overall wellbeing. Patton approaches food quality from first principles. He argues that three things go into your body daily: air (largely out of your control based on environment), water (constrained by what your municipality provides), and food (entirely within your control). Every time you put a fork in your mouth, you're making a political and health decision. In Panama's tropical climate, this decision becomes easier and more rewarding. The tropics offer year-round growing season, abundant water from precipitation, and a climate that eliminates many of the challenges farmers face in colder regions. You're not dealing with frozen troughs, snow damage to infrastructure, or limited growing seasons. The abundance available in Panama's climate means that connecting with a regenerative farmer or becoming one yourself gives you access to genuine food security and nutritional optimization that's nearly impossible in temperate climates. The farm village model includes a farm-to-table restaurant serving zero-kilometer organic food (food grown on-site or locally, meaning zero food-miles for freshness). Patton has heard countless stories from people who experienced dramatic health improvements - better energy, clearer thinking, improved digestion, better sleep - simply by eating real food consistently. This is the lifestyle that the farm village markets not as a luxury, but as a return to baseline health that humans evolved to have.

Both Alexandra Cortez and Thomas Patton emphasize that their projects aren't just for passive observation - they're actively seeking involvement from the expat community and interested investors. For Bario Vivo, interested supporters can connect through their Instagram account (Bario Vivo Pty) and get involved as volunteers, investors, workshop facilitators, or simply as visitors supporting their programs. The organization welcomes professionals who want to teach workshops to kids - whether that's art, music, business skills, language, or anything else that young people in Santa Ana could benefit from. The organization is also including in Panama Arepinta (a major cultural event happening on March 21st) as the first open-air gallery featured in the event, which shows how their work has gained institutional recognition and access to major cultural platforms. For the farm village and Kokira Soil, interested parties should visit legacolombia.com (which redirects to their application portal) and mention they heard about the project from Pana'Gringo or DoPanama's YouTube channel. When you apply, Austin Hess's team will reach out to discuss your specific interests - whether that's purchasing land, visiting the agritourism destination, attending workshops, or simply learning more about the model. The level of detail and customization suggests this is a sophisticated project with real infrastructure, not a speculative real estate play. DoPanama's agents specifically love connecting clients with the farm village because it represents a genuine alternative to traditional Panama real estate - one that aligns with growing expat interest in sustainable living, community engagement, and lifestyle design rather than just investment returns.

What's happening with Bario Vivo and the farm village represents something larger than individual projects. They're both responses to a critical question facing developing countries experiencing rapid growth: How do you develop economically while preserving identity, community, and human dignity? Panama is at an inflection point. The country has been a regional economic leader for decades, but that success has created pressure on traditional communities and neighborhood character. Young people leaving for economic opportunity. Neighborhoods facing gentrification. Rural areas facing agricultural pressure. Into this gap step entrepreneurs like Cortez and Patton - both foreigners, both passionate about Panama's potential, both convinced that the solution isn't to resist development but to guide it intentionally toward outcomes that preserve what makes Panama valuable while creating prosperity. This approach has proven appeal to expats considering relocation. You can move to Panama just for tax advantages and weather, but the evidence from these podcasts suggests many people want more. They want to move to a place where they can contribute, where their presence matters, where they're part of building something meaningful. Panama provides that opportunity in ways that purely resort-style retirement destinations don't. Austin Hess's company, DoPanama, sits at the intersection of all this - helping people relocate to Panama while connecting them to the kinds of community-engaged, purpose-driven living that's increasingly central to expat satisfaction in the region. The podcast itself, which features these stories, becomes a recruiting tool for Panama as a destination where your life can be about more than consumption. This positioning is increasingly important as expat demographics shift toward people who value purpose and community as much as climate and tax policy.