Child Aid

Child Aid is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit based in Portland, Oregon working to promote literacy in Latin America. According to Child Aid's mission statement, the organization works to "create opportunity for Latin America’s rural and indigenous poor through childhood literacy and education programs. We conduct reading programs in partnership with over 25 communities in Guatemala and put books into the hands of thousands of children. We provide critical training to teachers and librarians and offer scholarships to impoverished students. Child Aid’s literacy work provides the means for children to break out of poverty and build better lives for themselves and their families."^[1]

Child Aid works primarily in Guatemala, as it is the country with the lowest literacy rate in Latin America. Child Aid also founded and oversees a speech and hearing center for poor children who are deaf or hard of hearing in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Child Aid again received a four-star rating (the highest given) from Charity Navigator in 2009. Charity Navigator awards four stars to organizations that use their money most efficiently. At Child Aid, over 90% of donations go directly to programs in Latin America.^[2]

History

In 1987, founders Rick Carroll and Nancy Press spent time in southern Mexico where they discovered an absence of services for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. They began bringing extra hearing aids to a local doctor in Oaxaca, and over time, CORAL developed. CORAL is now a full service speech and hearing clinic for which Child Aid provides oversight and assistance. Child Aid has since expanded its work to focus on Guatemala where the organization has conducted library and literacy work for over 15 years.^[3]

Reading for Life

Child Aid has helped create 35 community libraries and conducts reading progrmams in more than 25 communities in Guatemala. In those areas, the organization works to improve libraries, train teachers and librarians, and bring reading programs to children who face the highest rate of illiteracy in Latin America. Child Aid’s work relies heavily on book donations, as many books in Guatemalan libraries are out of date and irrelevant.^[4] They also depend on volunteers working to upgrade libraries physically and through training of librarians and teachers.^[5]

The flagship program, Reading for Life, consists of three main components. First, Child Aid works to improve libraries in rural Guatemalan communities. The organization has now helped create over 35 libraries. Child Aid connects the libraries with schools and provides training for librarians. The work in libraries is key to creating sustainable learning programs. Another critical element of Child Aid’s work is teacher training. Most rural teachers lack the education and training to teach children to read, as many have only the equivalent of a high school diploma. Child Aid provides training and classroom follow-up for hundreds of teachers in rural Guatemala. Books constitute the third component of Reading for Life. Most schools in rural Guatemala lack books altogether, and often the books in libraries are out of date or irrelevant. Child Aid supplies libraries and schools with tens of thousands of Spanish-language books each year.^[6]

Partners

CORAL

In Oaxaca, Child Aid funds an organization called CORAL. CORAL provides early testing, treatment and other services for deaf children so that they may participate fully in their communities.^[7]

FUNDIT

Child Aid also partners with an organization called FUNDIT in Guatemala. FUNDIT provides children with scholarships and supplies so that they may attend school.^[8]

References

1. ^ http://www.child-aid.org
2. ^ http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.history&orgid=8219
3. ^ http://www.child-aid.org
4. ^ http://intlbookproject.wordpress.com/2009/03/
5. ^ http://www.ilovelibraries.org/news/topstories/guatemala.cfm
6. ^ http://www.child-aid.org
7. ^ http://www.netraising.net/wa/child/aid/C11
8. ^ http://scoutmagazine.ca/2009/12/01/ethical-bean-purchases-over-xmas-to-aid-guatemalan-kids/