Supported by funding through the CO+RE initiative, the Illinois Maya Initiative consists of an interdisciplinary group of faculty and outreach professionals from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and Western Illinois University.
Our Goals
Establish best practices that will serve as a resource for members of the university community and community service organizations seeking research or engagement connections with the Maya community. The best practice models will be in keeping with ethical guidelines, state-of-the-art examples of collaborative research, and recognized indigenous community rights standards.
Serve as a clearinghouse to connect and align research and engagement efforts from across our campus and community, minimize duplication, and more effectively leverage existing skills, experiences, and outcomes from previous and ongoing work.
Develop a sustainable campus-community platform that will facilitate the development of the collaborative research and outreach work generated by community members, regional institutional stakeholders, and campus researchers and extension agents.
Serve as a model for other types of campus-community collaborative infrastructures at the University of Illinois and comparable work with indigenous Latin American and other vulnerable communities elsewhere.