Casa Sito is a nonprofit organization with offices in the United States and Guatemala. The organization works with underserved rural communities throughout Guatemala on education, facilities and infrastructure, and disaster relief. We at HIA are working exclusively with Casa Sito for all of our projects in Guatemala. For more information about Casa Sito, visit them at their website here.
BLUElab at the University of Michigan is a student run organization that works to find sustainable solutions to development problems at home and abroad. We recognize that engineering students have a great deal to offer in the development of appropriate technology and we work with this organization to help recruit engineering students for our program. Together, we worked at the University of Michigan's Wilson Center where we built and tested BioSand water filters so to assess the filters' feasability and accessibility for our work in Samox San Lucas, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.
The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor GEAR UP is a discretionary grant program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. GEAR UP provides six-year grants to states and partnerships to provide services at high-poverty middle and high schools. GEAR UP grantees serve an entire cohort of students beginning no later than the seventh grade and follow the cohort through high school. GEAR UP funds are also used to provide college scholarships to low-income students. Together with GEAR UP, HIA has worked to promote engineering and service by working in conjunction with their partner school communities in the metropolitan Detroit area to provide an opportunity for underrepresented students to discover first hand, the potential of college education and to expose students to the information, knowledge and skills they need to complete high school and prepare themselves adequately for college entry.
