Based in Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, Human Connections is a non-profit organization that connects local people with international audiences. Since opening its doors in 2014, it has led more than 330 tours for 3,800+ travelers.

Given the pandemic and resulting travel restrictions, Human Connections has had to pivot its approach in supporting its community. With the Travel Elevates grant, it will be able to serve both artisans and travelers via virtual learning and partnership development. While the Insight Initiative involves new programming, it also directly furthers Human Connections’ mission to increase empathy and strengthen local communities during the pandemic and beyond.

MarAlliance inspires and enables positive change for threatened marine wildlife, critical habitats, and dependent human communities in Panama, Honduras, and Belize. Due to limited access to technology and internet, remote and rural communities in these countries have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and further disconnected from access to educational resources and systems.

With the Travel Elevates grant, MarAlliance can now build on its considerable educational work with an innovative and scalable educational strategy to improve education access and equity across key sites in Panama, Honduras, and Belize.