Olga Glenn

My current mission is working with Indigenous communities through the Mother Earth Project, which we just officially registered in New York after two years of groundwork. We started by visiting Indigenous communities in Panama to help women with arts and crafts projects and other community development initiatives like raising chickens to provide protein and training local health promoters. I spend a big part of my day learning as much as I can about the legal aspects of international treaties that govern the life and sustainability of Indigenous communities, jumping into every webinar that will empower me and help me be better prepared to assist these communities. My focus is on discrimination against women and any form of violence against women, and protections for children, specifically within Indigenous communities. This year is about full-fledged transition to nonprofit status, so I am researching fundraising opportunities locally and nationally, looking for grants, doing grant writing, and seeking donors. Networking is a very important part of my personal role. I have ancestral connections with the Ngobe Bugle Comarca, which are the main communities we are engaging with right now, so it's a very personal connection with these people. My heart breaks when I see and experience the conditions of poverty they live in, the difficult economic conditions, and children that die when crossing rivers to go to school. We are trying to find ways to humbly support them. I have a PhD in education from Fordham University and previously worked as a supervisor at the New York City Department of Education in the Division of English Language Learners, where I was able to help hundreds of schools, principals, school leadership, teachers, parents, and children attain academic development and survive a different cultural environment.