What is the Guatemala Education Initiative?
In 2005, Starbucks worked with Save the Children to positively impact coffee growing communities in the highlands of Guatemala. In this area, most people are Mayan and many do not speak Spanish, the language of Guatemala. Today they remain marginalized from mainstream Guatemalan society, suffering high rates of poverty and low levels of educational achievement. In response, Starbucks committed US$1.5 million to the Guatemala Education Initiative, a four-year program designed together with Save the Children to bring bilingual, bicultural education (in Mayan and Spanish) to pre-primary, primary, and secondary school students in the three provinces of Huehuetenango, Sololá, and Quiché.
