Made possible by a generous gift from Drs. Grace and Peter Wang, the Wang Center for Global Education is an academic support unit dedicated to providing faculty, students and staff with the resources necessary to advance PLU's distinction and vision for global education of "educating for a just, healthy, sustainable, and peaceful world at home and abroad"through faculty development and grant opportunities, delivery of study away programs, on campus programming on pressing world issues, and a commitment to best practices when engaging with educational partners worldwide. Funding is being sought to make the building more sustainable by increasing insulation and renovating the landscape.

Fundación En Vía is a non-profit organization located in Oaxaca, Mexico. We are committed to supporting social and community development through the combination of three main programs: microfinance, responsible tourism, and education. Our microloan program gives women the opportunity to create or expand small businesses, empowering them to better provide for themselves and their families. Our educational programs impart women with the knowledge they need to make better decisions regarding their businesses, personal finances, and use of loans. Our tourism model allows us to leverage the resources from tourism and direct them sustainably into communities, while connecting people to the ideas, strength and power of women working hard to improve their future.

The Institute for Nature and Society of Oaxaca (INSO) is an NGO with over 24 years of experience supporting community based social initiatives and ecological conservation in the state of Oaxaca. For the past 12 years, water has been the unifying element of our projects; our focus is on reducing water scarcity and improving wellbeing in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca through appropriate alternative technologies (rainwater harvesting, alternative sanitation systems, etc.), regeneration of micro-watersheds, permaculture, and collective political action. Our organization’s mission, and vision for the future, is embodied by our permaculture farm known as ‘El Pedregal’ or ‘the Rocky place’. These three hectares located in a small canyon on the southern slopes of the Sierra Juarez have served as our home and a living experiment for the past 7 years. Getting its name from the poor soil conditions due to years of unsustainable grazing and cultivation, INSO, together with a family from the community of San Andrés Huayapam, have rescued and revived this once dying land to a vibrant and productive multifunctional landscape. Apart from serving as a demonstration site for hundreds of visitors a year, El Pedregal has regenerated the micro-watershed giving new life to a previously dry spring as well as the local flora and fauna. We dream of a green belt around the valley of Oaxaca which produces organic food for the growing urban areas, helps us adapt and mitigate the worst effects of climate change, maintains ecosystem services such as clean water in sufficient quantities, as well as natural habitats to preserve the incredible biodiversity of Oaxaca. We believe El Pedregal should serve as an example for all of the micro-watersheds in the central Central Valleys in order to guarantee water and well-being for future generations. We hope to be able to continue the work we began 7 years ago with El Pedregal, and continue to inspire the next generation of environmentalists and farmers to take part in a holistic vision for the Central Valleys in which our water, food, and environmental needs are met in a sustainable manner with local communities leading way. Your donation will help us to enable this dream, and if you would like more information regarding our organization please check out www.insoaxaca.org