Maya Educational Foundation

The Foundation primarily provides grants that support and promote Educational and scholarship programs in the Maya region of mexico and central america. Approximately 15 - 20 grants are awarded annually to vetted nonprofit partners in guatemala, mexico, and belize. Representatives of the Foundation travel to these areas periodically to monitor and observe the programs and regular online meetings are held with supervisors and students. Mef serves up to 500 Maya students per year in the various scholarship programs it supports.

The Foundation annually provides grants to cirma in guatemala and sna jtz'ibajom, in support of their missions to foster study and preservation of mayan languages and cultures of the mesoamerican region.for more than four decades cirma has been recognized internationally for its dedication to the rescue and preservation of guatemala's visual and documentary patrimony. Mef's support of cirma focuses on their unique historical and photographic archives and their comprehensive library specializing in the social sciences, with books and periodicals pertaining to the mesoamerican region.in january 2024, mef started a scholarship program, with the help of cirma: 56 students, formerly in two other mef programs, are now being served by mef staff, with accounting and auditing oversight from cirma. This collaborative venture is called programa de becas mayas mef.sna jtz'ibajom (house of the writer), the Maya writers' group in san cristobal de las casas has fought for the preservation of Maya culture and promotion of literacy since 1983. The group's members have produced many plays and performances, written books, grammar and language manuals, taught literacy and indigenous language courses, and carried out video and radio projects.over the past two decades mef has been able to provide support to sna for bringing mayan language literacy courses to tseltal- and tsotsil-speaking communities in chiapas. In these courses, Maya children and adults are learning to read and write in their own languages. There is great interest and thousands of children and adults have participated in and graduated from these courses. Mef shares the goal of preserving mayan languages and cultural traditions.mef launched a university scholarship program with sna jtz'ibajom in 1998. It has seen many students graduate and currently supports 35 students in a variety of disciplines, including agronomy, physical education, medicine, dentistry, communications, anthropology, law and nursing.more recently, sna has agreed to administer mef's small chenalho scholarship program with the help of local supervisors.