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An Innovative Approach to Serving Mayan Communities in South Florida

An Innovative Approach to Serving Mayan Communities in South Florida. A project of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Migration and Refugee Services. Presentation by Lyn Morland and Cecile Motus for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grantee meeting, Los Angeles, March 18-19, 2008.

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An Innovative Approach to Serving Mayan Communities in South Florida

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  1. An Innovative Approach to Serving Mayan Communities in South Florida A project of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Migration and Refugee Services Presentation by Lyn Morland and Cecile Motus for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grantee meeting, Los Angeles, March 18-19, 2008 Photo courtesy of NPR’s Speaking of Faith

  2. Access to health and mental health care for Mayan language-speakers in the US • 500,000 Guatemalans reside in the US - a Mayan language is the first language for 8,000 • Majority are in South Florida • Service providers assume ability to speak Spanish, or use family, friends, children as interpreters • Gap in resources & trained interpreters for this population • Increasing collaboration between service providers and indigenous leaders, & building capacity, can help bridge gap

  3. U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) • Long history of advocacy for the rights of migrants • MRS resettles ~ 30% of all refugees, serves unaccompanied refugee children, victims of human trafficking, undocumented children in federal custody • Strong presence at local level re advocacy & services through religious communities & Catholic Charities • PCMR supports the Mayan Pastoral Project, a leadership formation program reaching 33 dioceses with Mayan community presence, including Indiantown, Jupiter, Homestead in South Florida • BRYCS (www.brycs.org) provides technical assistance to those serving immigrant children & families – develops training curricula, Toolkits & other educational materials

  4. Innovative Approach… • Year 1: Outreach to Mayan Leadership, Service Providers & Gaps Analysis • Year 2: Interpreter “Train the Trainer” Curriculum & Training • Year 3: Free Web-basedToolkit • Language Identification Card • Key health concepts in Mayan languages • Visual tools for communication • Educational Resources • List of Trained Interpreters Annual Maya Leadership & Service Provider Conferences

  5. Project Partners • Corn Maya, Inc. • Maya Pastoral Project • Guatemalan-Maya Center • Asociación Guatemalteca Americana, Inc. • Florida Gulf Coast University, College of Education – Florida Migrant Interstate Program

  6. Examples of Services & Benefits to Mayan Families • Continuing annual leadership training for 100-150 Maya community leaders to “educate our community about life in this country, immigration laws, driving rules, health issues, and education.” (Benefit: 40 affiliated Maya communities now involved in pastoral care, immigration counseling, weekly community gatherings, sessions on social welfare and education systems and health and welfare issues of Maya families in the USA) • Creation of a list of translators who speak five of the Mayan languages. (Benefit: MRS is now using the list to outreach to Mayan women and children in the Children Services Program.)

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