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Our Vision

 

MAIA envisions an emerging California where all residents come together to ease the transition to a new life faced by those who have migrated here to work its fertile agricultural lands.

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This broad and inclusive vision sees a future where all the children of the Pajaro Valley community have access to higher education. We strive through education to remove the barriers to upward mobility that exist due to poverty, lack of access to health care, substandard housing and discrimination.

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Florence Wyckoff, who presided over the board of directors for many years, saw MAIA's work as "helping with the process of migration and adaptation by providing seed money to assure that a steady flow of migrant children will go on to a university and come back to us as highly competent professionals."

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Her vision has borne fruit. Today California is benefiting from the work of MAIA alumni. These hardworking children of migrant and immigrant families have demonstrated their abilities by graduating from Stanford, Harvard, Smith, Princeton, the Claremont Colleges, Vassar, USC and the University of California to name just a few.

Our Focus

 

Since 1979, MAIA has worked to improve the quality of life for all people of the Pajaro Valley. Historically we have provided assistance in education and health by supporting innovative projects that benefit families who work the land. Most recently our focus has been on counseling and creating opportunities for underrepresented low income students to attend college.

Our Work

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MAIA works to produce exemplary university students who will one day make valuable contributions to the civic life of their communities.

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MAIA works collaboratively with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District to support their efforts to identify, prepare and guide college bound students from farmworking backgrounds.

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MAIA has succeeded at ventilating elite universities and colleges with students who have historically been excluded from institutions of higher learning, namely those from poor and often Latino families .

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MAIA identifies and makes available scholarships and resources, monitors college preparation and keeps in close personal contact with each MAIA student. To accomplish its mission, MAIA engages in quick decision-making and action, leveraging small seed grants into successful larger projects.

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MAIA supports the work of community people by asking well-placed strategic questions and nurturing important networks.

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Click here to learn more about our Projects.

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Board of Directors

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  • Bonnie Gutierrez, President, former Director of Health Services and Healthy Start Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD)

  • Dr. Lorraine Sandoval, former PVUSD administrator and college counselor

  • Dr. Faris Sabbah, Superintendent of Schools, Santa Cruz County Office of Education

  • Ann Wyckoff Carlos, former CEO, Direct Relief International

  • John Sargent, former teacher, PVUSD, Watsonville High School

  • Andrea Carlos Willy, Grant Writer PVUSD

  • Alicia Martinez, Director, Watsonville Pubic Library

  • Shirley Flores Munoz, Professor, Cabrillo College

  • Roseann Hernandez-Cattani, Journalist, San Francisco Bay Area

  • Maria Rocha-Ruiz, UCSC, Director, Educational Partnership Center

  • Rosario Weckler, former PVUSD teacher

  • Susan Brutschy, President, Applied Survey Research

  • Sylvia Alba,  counselor PVUSD

  • Sue Wyckoff,  former professor, University of Arizona

  • Ron Sandidge, former school administrator, PVUSD

  • Yesenia Cervantes, Interim Director, College of Engineering Undergraduate Retention Programs, UC Davis

  • Sofia D. Antuna, Middle school administrator.

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