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The Organization

New Dawn Guatemala is a Seattle-based grassroots organization that was founded in 2013 in order to promote equitable, ecologically friendly development and educational advancement in the rural Guatemalan Community of Nuevo Amanecer ("New Dawn" in Spanish) and the surrounding region.

​We are a registered charity with the State of Washington and hold a federal 501c (3) status. Tax ID number: 46-2249843

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Board of Volunteers

Joe Szwaja, President
Leticia Méndez-Clausen, Vice President
Tim Shepard, Treasurer
Lynn Gaertner-Johnston, Secretary 
Caleb Smith
Dan McGowan
Heidi Toppel

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Partner Organizations

The Otto René Castillo Institute
for Sustainable Education

This project comprises the establishment and daily operation of an educational institute that will grant bachelor’s degrees in sciences and letters with an accompanying certification in gastronomy and ecotourism. Targeted at youth in the municipalities of Colomba and San Martín Sacatepéquez, both in the department of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, it is a project that places social and environmental education at the center of the curriculum. In this way, we empower our students to value their lives, families, communities, and environment, and to graduate with the skills needed to continue at university as well as to develop projects of their own design.

Find out more here.