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Maya Educational Foundation |
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| Route 106 / P. O. Box 38 South Woodstock, VT 05071-0038, USA Tel. (802) 457-1199 / Fax (802) 457-2212 mayaedfund@mayaedufound.org |
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About us |
Marilyn Moors, President The MEF began in 1992 by helping two Maya students advance their education. In the years since then, many Maya students have benefitted from MEF support in their quest for higher education in Guatemala and Mexico. MEF programs have diversified over time and have grown to encompass a variety of efforts, all focused on its primary mission, Maya education and culture. MEF received IRS approval in April of 1993 as a 501(C)(3) organization. Since 2002 it has operated under IRS public charity status, EIN: 03-0335159. In Guatemala MEF’s university scholarship program relies on a dedicated comité de becas (scholarship committee) which selects students and monitors their progress. MEF’s Guatemalan colleagues set up an office in Guatemala City, later another one in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city, advertised the scholarship program in newspapers and on the radio and saw applications coming in immediately. Nowadays the program is well known and only little advertising is done to attract new students. In the mid-1990s, MEF forged strong ties with two non-profit organizations in Chiapas, Mexico where the need for better educational opportunities is great. These two NGOs, FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya) and Sna Jtz’ibajom (House of the Writer), have helped MEF set up a scholarship program in Chiapas and select, oversee, and assist the Maya students. MEF, in turn, has supported their efforts in theater, play writing, Maya language courses, publications, workshops and other creative programs. Many Maya children and adults benefit from these programs, performances, and learning opportunities. Since the late 1990s, MEF has been running a scholarships program in Jacaltenango and Todos Santos, Guatemala. In 2003, MEF began sponsoring the project Oxlajuj B’atz for a resource center for women weavers in Guatemala. In 2004, MEF began collaboration with the Chiapas Photography Project. In 2006, scholarship programs in three underserved regions in Chiapas and Guatemala and one in Belize were launched. MEF began collaboration with Amigos de San Cristóbal, the Julian Cho Society and Yax Te’ Books. MEF supporters have made it possible to help hundreds of students in different parts of Guatemala and Mexico. MEF continues to explore collaborative partnerships with other organizations in order to implement new programs.
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