Pressroom & Media Resources
Child Aid is a Portland-based literacy nonprofit working to bring books and comprehensive teacher training to elementary-age children in some of the poorest communities in Guatemala. To date, our organization works in more than 100 schools, reaching nearly 67,000 children with transformative education and literacy skills.
Photo Library
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Photo by: Livvy Runyon
Teacher Irma Yolanda Choch with her class of second grade students at the La Pila school in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Child Aid supports primary school teachers with high-quality training, books for their classroom and one-on-one coaching so they can help their students develop foundational skills in reading, writing and critical thinking.
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Photo by: Livvy Runyon
A young boy reads a story together with Child Aid Literacy Trainer Meliza Chacon at the Chuimanzana school in Chimaltenengo, Guatemala.
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Photo by: Livvy Runyon
A pair of first grade students read together during recess at the San Lucas school in Sololá, Guatemala.
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Photo by: Anna Watts
Child Aid Literacy Trainer Marilena Ixen works on a new lesson plan with teacher Telma Tzirín Mucía at the Xejolón school. Each year, Child Aid conducts thousands of one-on-one coaching sessions with teachers in their classrooms. Coaching is fundamental to Child Aid’s success in helping teachers gain the knowledge and skills needed to improve their instruction.
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Photo by: Anna Watts
Child Aid Literacy Trainer Heidy Coyote Mactzul leads a demonstration of read-aloud techniques at a teacher training workshop in Patzun Guatemala. In Child Aid’s workshops, teachers learn new strategies and techniques for teaching literacy and making the learning environment more interactive.
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Photo by: Anna Watts
Girls reading in the library at the San Isidro school in Sololá, Guatemala. Each year, Child Aid donates tens of thousands of children’s books and trains hundreds of teachers in literacy instruction, giving Guatemalan children access to the quality education they need and deserve.
Video Library
The Problem Video
Across the globe, there’s an education crisis: kids aren’t learning. And without literacy and learning skills, these kids will miss the opportunities that lead people out of poverty. So we’re training teachers and fixing broken classrooms so they will work for every student who enters them, today, next year, and well into the future.
The Power of Participation
With training and support from Child Aid’s Reading for Life program, teacher Thomás Bocel ditches the rote, lecture-based techniques that are standard in elementary classrooms in Guatemala in favor of interactive, hands-on modes of learning that get kids out of their seats and raising their hands.
Teacher Testimonial – Luis Vincente Saminez
Luis Vicente Saminez teaches fourth grade at Rafael Tellez Garcia Primary School in Solola, Guatemala. In 2016, Child Aid joined with his school to bring books, teacher training and Literacy Trainer Edgar Garcia who gives one-on-one support and guidance to Luis and his students. Luis shares how Child Aid helped him create the kind of classroom he always dreamed about for his students.
Child Aid B-Roll Footage
Raw footage of Child Aid’s literacy programs in Guatemala for use in video stories.
Includes:
- After school reading program at Child Aid office in Patzun.
- One-on-one coaching session with teacher in his classroom.
- Children reading Child Aid books during recess.
- Child Aid book delivery to schools; sorting and organizing new books.
- Child Aid literacy trainers reading aloud to children in classrooms.
Key Expert Summaries
Nancy Press
CEO and Founder. Dr. Nancy Press co-founded Child Aid nearly two decades ago and has on-the-ground experience building a well-respected literacy program that is now in more than 100 schools in some of the neediest communities in the world. She was trained as an anthropologist and is professor emerita at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. Press travels to Guatemala several times each year to oversee Child Aid’s on-the-ground operations. Dr. Press routinely publishes opinion pieces in national publications about Child Aid’s work in the Northern Triangle, available here. (available for interviews in person, via Skype, phone or email).
Graciela Landa Pichiya
Child Aid’s Co-Director. Pichiya joined Child Aid in 2010 as a literacy trainer and quickly ascended to oversee our operations in Guatemala. A lawyer, educator, mother and proud indigenous Mayan woman, Graciela battled her way to get the education she wanted for herself. Today, Graciela fights for a quality education for the next generation of Guatemalan children. Read more about Graciela here. (available via Skype, phone or email).
Press Releases
- Announcing Child Aid Co-CEO Graciela Landa Pichiyá
- Child Aid wins $200,000 Tinker Foundation grant for pandemic-era literacy work in rural Guatemala.
- Comedian and Actor Arturo Castro to headline a virtual variety comedy show to benefit Child Aid
- Child Aid Hosts “COVID-19 Myth-Busting Happy Hours” for Staff in Guatemala
- Child Aid Helps Deliver Third Round of Emergency Food Relief to 387 More Families
Child Aid In the News
AARP’s ‘The Girlfriend’ Honors Child Aid CEO
Great.com: Great.com talks with… Podcast
XRAY.FM: Non-Profit Happy Hour Podcast
Borgen Magazine: Children International: Supporting Children Amid COVID-19 (Jan 2021)
Ms Magazine: Migrant Children Deserve Better Than the Border Crisis (Jul 2019)