Impact Report - The Macauley Foundation 2022

IMPACT REPORT The Macauley Foundation 2021-2022 Grant Report May 2022

Mission Education and Hope is a non-profit organization empowering change through education and wellness in the western highlands of Guatemala. Founded on the belief that education is a fundamental human right, and that all the world’s children deserve to be educated, we strongly believe that education is the most effective agent to truly break the cycle of poverty. At Education and Hope, we nurture the whole child through opportunities aimed at building academic performance, positive behavior change, and emotional resilience.

On the surface, our work at Education and Hope is about providing children with access to education through scholarships and tutoring. However, the true work is rooted in Follow-Up: 2021-2022 Grant Reporting.

something much deeper. Our vibrant, multifaceted programs provide the physical and emotional tools for children and adolescents to lead healthy, prosperous lives. We aim to empower by way of kindness and compassion, bestowing a sense of worthiness and

Total Grant Amount Awarded: $10,000 annual support

belonging through the gift of unconditional love.

Project Director & Title: Julie Ellen Coyne, Executive Director

At Education and Hope, we understand that education does not exist in a vacuum. For a child to succeed, a variety of needs must be addressed: education, nutrition, medical care, psycho-social well-being, and family support services. Our approach is holistic, and our work

focuses

on

strengthening

academic

achievement,

physical

and

emotional

development, and developing core life skills. Our program consists of two primary components: comprehensive scholarships covering the costs involved in educating each student; and an after-school enrichment center providing tutoring, nutritious meals, showers,

medical

attention,

environment filled with love.

and

mental

health

counseling

in

a

family-centered

As we expressed in our 2021 grant submission, 2020 was a challenging year for Education and Hope due to the impact of COVID restrictions on our services and outreach. Pivoting quickly to face the challenges to find methods and ways to learn, educate, and stay connected as well as healthy in their vulnerable population we mobilized swiftly to communicate with students and families and make home visits while providing some of the same services we offered at our facility: food security, connectivity, educational support, and health care.

Unfortunately, during 2021 and during the first quarter of 2022, local schools in Guatemala continued to operate remotely due to COVID pandemic restrictions.

Our after-school program falls under the same criteria, and daily activities for children and families have yet to resume at our facility.

Since receiving the generous grant from The Macauley Foundation, funds awarded to us were used to support necessary modifications to our four major areas

of

focus:

Education,

Nutrition,

Health,

and

Wellbeing:

Physical/Mental/Emotional/Social, and Agro-Ecology/Food Sovereignty.

Since family support, nutrition, and medical attention are integral parts of our program, team members have been making home visits to students and their families. As a result, they are growing in their understanding of individual family needs. Nurturing the power of connection in the home, we have been able to provide many of the same services we offer at our facility.

Snapshot of the impact we were able to provide as we modified our services during these challenging times thanks to The Macauley Foundation's support.

Education: In the early stages of the pandemic, the majority of most of our students were relying on shared family phones to connect to classes or to receive assignments. Homes without proper lighting, desks, and chairs are ill-equipped to provide a healthy environment to study. The challenging concept of remote learning becomes infinitely more complicated if your family does not have internet service or a computer.

In response, we have provided smartphones and tablets to all students in need, 164 families in total. Twenty-five middle school and high school students were provided with laptop computers. Ten teachers were provided with desktop computers to enable virtual instruction. All families were provided with access to internet service. At the after-school center, we upgraded to a fiber-optic network in the program to withstand the new increase in usage as teachers were conducting their remote classes from our buildings. We helped families to create adequate workspaces for their children and a handful of our most high-risk students who had no safe place to learn were received in person on our premises.

Linda Nayeli, High school student with her first-ever laptop computers.

Snapshot Nutrition: : The economic crisis in Guatemala has caused a national spike in malnutrition. With so many of our parents initially out of work, early on we saw the need to dramatically increase our monthly food pantry support.

Providing hot, nutritious meals has always been central to the success of our program. We’ve worked hard to improve the food pantry offering to ensure that we’re sending families a wide variety of fresh and nutrientdense items. I have always understood this outreach to be a lifeline for many of our program members, but in this time of extended crisis, the importance of good nutrition has risen to a new level. 225 people per month receive nutritional support while 250 receive food pantry supplies.

Our nutritionist teaches healthy recipes to our families.

In the area of nutrition, Education and Hope replaced the two hot meals traditionally served each day, serving our families through food pantry baskets instead.

Initially, only non-perishable staples were included but today, thanks to the creative thinking by our management and the generous support of our donors, it is now possible for us to include fresh green vegetables, fruit, milk, and eggs in every basket. This increased nutritional support makes it possible for families to achieve a healthy and more nutritious diet."

DOÑA MARCELINA RECEIVING HER FOOD PANTRY ITEMS.

Fernando Oxlaj; a member of our administrative team directly in charge of managing communication with the families of our program.

Health, and Wellbeing:

Snapshot

Our student nurses and nutritionist now deliver at-home nutritional support, offering families guidance and instruction, bringing new recipes, encouragement, and connection. Home treatment has been successful in lowering the risk of malnutrition in all our critical cases. We are providing essential intervention, monitoring height and weight, and supplementing with vitamins and other forms of nourishment .

Virtual education has caused a great deal of burnout and despair across Guatemala.

Students challenged by learning differences struggle to navigate online instruction.

Teenagers are removed from their community of peers, and often isolated in difficult family situations; too many of them have been tempted to abandon school altogether.

Our response has been to expand our mental health initiative to meet the rapidly increasing need within our program. A high percentage of our extended family have experienced trauma, and many suffer from depression. This year, our staff psychologist provided hundreds of therapy sessions for individuals and families and conducted dozens of workshops that engaged staff, students, and families. The top members of our administrative team engaged in 15 sessions directed at topics such as leadership, interpersonal relationships, stress management, and emotional health and wellness.

During the pandemic, the demand for psychological support sharpened to such a degree that we hired a second therapist. As a result, we are hoping to substantially increase our mental health overall.

Home visits. Our student nurses reinforcing good hygiene practices

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"How satisfying to be a part of helping secure more complete nutrition for our families!"

Pictured is Agricultural engineer Elder Elías the director of our new Food Sovereignty Initiative.

Thank you for making this all possible. Thank you for helping us to make our support go even further than it has before, ensuring that our families can feed their children healthy meals. The women couldn’t even carry all that was delivered to them in their food baskets! Their eyes were bright and wet with tears when they walked out the door. We heard phrases like, “thank you for your concern for the nutritional needs of our children.”

That might be what moved me the most: to see the mothers’ deep recognition that our mission has always been the well-being of every member of our extended family. We know our brief time together in these deliveries is not sufficient to be present with everyone and listen to their struggles as we wish we could, but we know that they left us feeling deeply loved and cared for.” Lorena Sac: one of three administrators working together to lead the program.

As a reference, I have included below a table with the costs incurred in making necessary adjustments during this time of remote outreach. The cost of our pandemic adaptations in 2021 as shown in the table below exceed the total of the grant we were awarded. I included the entire summary for context.

2021/2022 PANDEMIC ADJUSTMENTS IN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

Smartphones/tablets for scholarship recipients- $2,973.68 Additional computers for remote education, staff, and students -$15,670.31 Support to connect families to internet service -$2,368.42 Installation of fiber optic internet to support increased usage -$592.11 Growing the mobile library, and storybooks for students to read at home -$1,957.24 Increase in size/scope/nutrient density of monthly food pantry support- $7,894.74 Nutrition workshops; family home visits; individualized nutrition support to community members -$2,368.42 Increase in therapeutic support: individual therapy, family therapy, and staff workshops- $6,578.95 TOTAL -$40,403.87 In January 2022, I traveled to Guatemala for the first time since the pandemic began.

During this visit, I initiated meetings with staff and teachers on how to effectively reopen and what was needed to safely expedite our return to in-person services. I made a second trip at the end of February 2022 to continue these preparations and just recently as of May 8 a third trip finalizing steps to reopen our program in the upcoming weeks to welcome back students and families.

We have faced sizable challenges in adapting to effective remote outreach and are incredibly appreciative to have been able to rely on support from The Macauley Foundation as we have reimagined our services in ways that have ultimately strengthened the foundation of our mission and the program overall.

We have XX students currently enrolled in our scholarship program however all services ripple across multiple generations – the power of change may start with only one but ends with many. Our food pantry currently serves 250 families and to date, we have 42 employees in-country