Our Youth Education Program was launched in 1997, when founder Jane Mintz was trying to convince an artisan to keep her son in school. Due to high poverty levels and cost of education in Guatemala, many indigenous families must send their children to work in order to contribute to the family’s income. Through this personal encounter, Jane recognized a need to support the artisans and their families beyond a fair payment for their work. Our Youth Education Program provided the first scholarship offered to that very student, Gilberto from Chuacruz. Today, we partner with Maya Educataional Foundation and individual donors to support our students.
In Guatemala there is a clear need for increased educational opportunities and youth development initiatives. The Guatemalan Ministry of Education reports that only 61% of junior-high (básico) age youth and only 32% of senior-high (diversificado) age youth are enrolled in school. The educational realities are even more disparaging for indigenous populations. The majority (62.3%) of the 556,000 children aged 7-14 not attending school is indigenous, and the highest rates of illiteracy occur in rural areas with an indigenous population. This is largely due to the extreme poverty faced by many indigenous Guatemalans and a poor education system that offers little opportunity to advance economic sustainability. Government-run public schools are under-funded, overcrowded, and offer antiquated curriculums. The alternative private schools are often too expensive for a vast majority of indigenous families, 75% of whom live below the poverty line.
Our Youth Education Program offers economic support to school-aged children of the artisans we work with, and invests in the personal and professional development of students at the secondary level through workshops and community service initiatives. Through a holistic program, we strive to develop our students into successful, socially-conscious adults, empowering them to contribute positively to their communities and foster significant change in Guatemala.
The Youth Education Program is aligned with the Guatemalan public school calendar—January to December—and focuses on providing:
I want to be a leader because I believe that my community needs people that show initiative and want to help to address community needs.
My goal is to be a graduate in social work as I want to improve the lives of those who live in rural areas. I am driven to help this population that does not have a voice in Guatemala.
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