Cooperative for Education
Is committed to the mission of helping Guatemalan youth break the cycle of poverty through education.
Mario Contreras
Mario Contreras
17-years with P&G in CBD & Brand Management, North & Latin America
Mario joined the CoEd Board of Directors in 2014 and is a member of their Development Committee. He is an active fundraiser, has identified several additional grant opportunities, and has been a CoEd donor since 2002. CoEd was founded by fellow Alum Jeff Berninger and his brother, Joe, who serves as Executive Director.
Ben Chapman, also a P&G Alum with 33 years at P&G, serves as vice chair of the Finance Committee, is an active fundraiser, and a member of the Governance Committee, working to achieve even greater effectiveness.
CoEd accomplishes this mission by implementing sustainable textbook, computer, reading, and scholarship programs in impoverished school schools in rural areas and has reached over 170,000 youth since 1996. CoEd has established 45 sustainable Computer Centers (serving more than 12,500 students) in the indigenous Mayan communities of Guatemala’s Western Highlands.
Establishing CoEd Computer Centers in rural middle schools provides indigenous youth with access to vital technology education. The gift of education—when applied on a large scale in an impoverished and highly illiterate area—becomes the cornerstone for long-term economic and social change. With the skills they gain through CoEd’s program, students graduate prepared to pursue further education in vocational schools or to successfully compete for higher-paying jobs.
To learn more about Cooperative for Education, click here to visit their website.
The 2017 P&G Alumni Foundation Grant of $15,000 will be used to expand the Computer Centers Program to two additional secondary schools in this impoverished area helping 448 new students, of which 95% or 425 will be employed. Co-Ed Computer Centers provide a powerful incentive for indigenous youth to stay in school, since the centers provide a quality of education that is on par with—or exceeds—that available to their urban peers.
Computer Center Accesses a World of Opportunity!
Brenda was destined to work in the fields or perform another type of low-paying job. Recognizing that nearly 60% of mid-level jobs in Guatemala require computer skills, Brenda’s prospects greatly improved by attending CoEd’s computer program. Designed to teach youth to learn by doing, to think creatively and critically, and to learn an important job skill, Brenda’s dreams of going to university and of becoming a bilingual secretary are within her reach.
“Now I have access to a whole new world. These computers will help me achieve my dreams!” Brenda
