Projects: Guatemala

The Ministry of Light and Truth (Ministerio Luz y Verdad) is a Christian organization dedicated to helping the needs of Guatemala City's poor. Currently, the ministry rents a house where they provide children with tutoring two evenings per week, hold a parent group one night per week, an adolescent group one night per week, as well as hold church services. They also work with parents via home visits and school partnerships in order to strengthen parenting skills and promote more sustainable change in their children.

They also:
  • Coordinate scholarships
  • Provide field trips every 3-4 months
  • Plans to start a soccer team for the kids
  • Provide the families with some nutritious food
USLA’s Role:
  • Collect books for a library at the ministry
  • Provide funding for 1-2 soccer teams
  • Collect computers and install free educational software for tutoring and skills development
  • Provide consultation for working with families
  • Provide consultation for teaching children conflict resolution
  • USLA provides scholarships for the children served by the ministry. Although education is technically free in Guatemala, many parents cannot afford the cost of uniforms, shoes, and school supplies. These scholarships pay for all of these necessities as well as haircuts per student per year.

The children who attend the ministry are at high risk for becoming involved in gang activity, prostitution, drug use, or other criminal activities. Providing an education for these children gives them an opportunity to break the cycle of poverty.

New Life with Education special education school was established for children who can't gain an education in the overcrowded Guatemalan school system. This inability is either due to the teacher's inability to teach them or the ridicule of the other students. Some of the children have severe hearing or vision deficits, learning disabilities, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or attention disorders. Learn more at NewLifeGuatemala.com.

Claire, a bilingual school psychologist and cofounder of USLA, provides assessments and recommendations for working with the children who attend the school. She also provides periodic training on strategies for working with children with disabilities for the New Life staff members.

Projects: Mexico

Tarahumara School Project (past project)

In 2008 and 2009 the Rotary Club of Cuauhtémoc in Chihuahua, Mexico began collecting books and computers for under funded schools in the mountains of Chihuahua, Mexico. The majority of these schools educate children who are Tarahumara, an indigenous group of northern Mexico. USLA provided the Rotary club with seven computers and 200 books (in Spanish) to distribute to the schools.

Support for Schools and other Projects along the Mexican Border

USLA has a partnership with the University of Texas, El Paso Center for Inter-American and Border Studies. In the past, this partnership focused on distribution of books and other educational materials to schools in Juarez and other Mexican border areas.

USLA is currently partnering with UTEP in working with Casa Amiga, a respected domestic violence center in Juarez, Mexico, that teaches women marketable skills and provides counseling to women and their children. The center also provides outreach to children who are not impacted by domestic violence, but who have been affected by the current state of violence in Juarez.

USLA’s Role:
  • Collect and distribute computers for the center (for women to learn computer skills)
  • Collect and distribute books in Spanish
  • Collect and distribute psychological materials
  • Collect and distribute other materials deemed necessary by Casa Amiga

Additionally, USLA mental health volunteers and Casa Amiga psychologists will begin an ongoing “exchange of ideas” that will take place through UTEP’s Center for Inter-American and Border Studies. This exchange will involve training from both sides regarding effective strategies for working with children and families impacted by violence.

We are installing free software in Spanish that allows children to learn letters, numbers, vocabulary, reading, and math skills. We are using Edubuntu software.

Projects: Other Locations

The Scholarships for Education and Economic Development (SEED), continuation of CASS program at The University of Northern Colorado, under the direction of Madeline Milian, Ph.D.

The CASS program was created in 1989 to improve the academic skills and practices of teachers in Central America and the Caribbean. It is funded by USAID and administered by Georgetown University. It provides opportunities for teachers in rural areas in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic to attend a U.S. institution, and complete a specialized program that meets the educational needs of the CASS teachers.

USLA’s role:
  • Support these teachers with materials that would allow them to fully implement what they’ve learned through their classes at UNC
  • Claire is an adjunct professor teaching leadership strategies to the CASS teachers
  • Provide books and computers to supplement existing libraries and computer labs (or start new ones) for teacher/scholars’ schools

Our Collaborators and Supporters Include: