OBJECTIVES

MayaVision

Objectives / Objetivos / Q’ijoj Ch’ob’onik

MayaVision is a community-based Indigenous Maya organization founded in Los Angeles in 1998. Our work supports the dignity, cultural continuity, languages, traditions, and well-being of Guatemalan Maya communities while building understanding and solidarity with the broader public.

Our Objectives

1. Language Access and Community Services

MayaVision works to reduce language barriers that prevent Indigenous Maya people from accessing essential services and exercising their rights. We support access to interpretation and culturally responsive communication in healthcare, education, legal settings, immigration proceedings, employment, and other public services.

We recognize the importance of Indigenous languages, including K’iche’, Q’anjob’al, Kaqchikel, Mam, Achi, and Q’eqchi’. Our goal is to help Maya families communicate with institutions while preserving the languages and knowledge that connect generations.

2. Environmental Protection and Human Rights

MayaVision promotes the protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights, ancestral territories, and natural environments. We support awareness of the relationship between cultural survival, environmental stewardship, and the right of Indigenous communities to defend their lands, water, and ways of life.

We seek to strengthen connections among Maya communities in Los Angeles, Guatemala, and other communities working to protect Indigenous rights and the environment. We believe that respect for Mother Earth and respect for human dignity are inseparable.

3. Cultural Preservation and Education

MayaVision works to preserve and share the cultural heritage of Guatemalan Maya communities in Los Angeles. Through traditional music, marimba, dance, storytelling, cultural gatherings, and educational activities, we create opportunities for community members to practice and transmit ancestral knowledge.

We especially encourage children and young people to learn about their cultural heritage, Indigenous identity, languages, history, and artistic traditions. We also welcome the broader public to learn from Maya community members and engage respectfully with our living cultures.

We aim to strengthen the presence of Maya cultural expression in Southern California through community-led events, traditional performance, intergenerational learning, and partnerships with cultural, educational, and community organizations.

4. Family Preservation and the Protection of Maya Children

MayaVision seeks to support Maya families and strengthen the bonds that connect children to their relatives, languages, cultural traditions, and communities. We recognize the importance of culturally informed approaches when families encounter public institutions and child welfare systems.

We advocate for the cultural identity, dignity, and well-being of Maya children. Our goal is to help ensure that children can maintain meaningful connections to their families, communities, languages, and ancestral heritage.

5. Maya Spirituality and Ancestral Knowledge

MayaVision respects and supports the continuity of Maya spirituality, ceremonial practices, and ancestral knowledge. We recognize the important role of Ajq’ijab’—Maya spiritual guides and keepers of calendar knowledge—in sustaining cultural and spiritual life.

Through opportunities for learning, ceremony, cultural exchange, and intergenerational participation, we seek to help younger generations understand and respect the spiritual traditions that remain central to many Maya communities.

We work to protect the dignity of Maya spiritual traditions and create spaces where ancestral knowledge can be shared respectfully, without erasure or misrepresentation.

Our Community Legacy

Since 1998, MayaVision has worked to sustain the cultural heritage and community life of Guatemalan Maya people in Los Angeles. We continue to build opportunities for cultural learning, language preservation, family support, and the sharing of Maya traditions with future generations.

Our work is grounded in the knowledge, leadership, and participation of Maya community members. We seek a future in which Maya languages, cultural expressions, spiritual traditions, and Indigenous rights remain visible, respected, and alive.