MAIA
Celebrating four decades of service to the youth of the Pajaro Valley.
FOUNDATION
Migration and Adaptation In the Americas
MAIA Helps Underrepresented Students from the Greater Pajaro Valley to Prepare For and Succeed in Higher Education
“MAIA’s emphasis is on measures that benefit the entire community. MAIA students’ college records show that the foundation’s work has been good for Princeton (Stanford, Harvard, UC, etc.), good for the students, good for the high school they came from and good for their community as well, a success not only because young students following them are watching, seeing those young people succeed in a hostile world, learning that a promising future is open to anybody willing to do his homework. Down goes the dropout rate, up go expectations and ambitions. We made it work in one high school by steady practical, personal attention. The result is living proof that education works for everybody”.
Founder William Mackenzie – letter to Paul McDonald, February 20, 1993
Welcome
MAIA began in the 1970s supporting innovative projects in education, health and housing to benefit families who worked the land of the Pajaro Valley.
That early support was gradually taken over by organizations that came into existence in the 1980s and 1990s. At the turn of the century, as others expanded upon many of our initiatives, MAIA began focusing on the education of the Valley’s college bound students.
Today, as California undergoes the most comprehensive reform in its educational landscape in 40 years, new opportunities for these students exist. MAIA welcomes the current changes in educational policy. The state’s mandate to change district funding, curriculum and college specific preparation will facilitate MAIA’s enhancement of the enrichment and academic rigor needed in college preparatory classes.
Now in its “Second Generation,” MAIA is assisting high need, first generation, underrepresented students to move on to and succeed in higher education. Privately funded MAIA initiatives are undertaken by leveraging small grants into successful larger projects in collaboration with school administrators and teachers.
Bonnie Gutierrez – President, MAIA Foundation
