The Pulsera Project

As the Paralympics kick off this week, we just wanted to take a minute to celebrate the fact that Guatemala last month won its first ever Olympic Gold Medal in the history of the country!

Congratulations to our Guatemalan friends and Adriana Ruano who brought home the gold in trap shooting!

The first pulsera boxes of the school year are on their way this week! Looking forward to another colorful year partnering with all of you! 🐶🌈🧶

Sign-ups are officially open for Fall & Winter pulsera sales in August through December! We're looking forward to another great year of working together to empower U.S. students and artisans in Central America!

www.pulseraproject.org/signup

The adventure continues! Yesterday we zoomed across Lake Atitlan by boat to visit our artisan partners at Cojolya Association of Maya Women Weavers — they gave us an amazing weaving demonstration, showed us around the local market, took us to a local restaurant for a traditional meal, and then we visited artisans who have benefited from the Pulsera Project’s housing program which has been funded by pulsera sales in schools across the U.S. More to come!

Another great day in Guatemala with our teacher trip! We took a boat across Lake Atitlan to the town of San Juan La Laguna to visit with our partner organization Alma de Colores, an amazing group that advocates for and provides opportunities for people with disabilities in the community. Many members of Alma de Colores are pulsera artisans and they were able to share with our teacher group the life-changing impact that Pulsera Project jobs have had on themselves and their families.

Teachers were also able to share the positive impact the project has had on their students who have participated in pulsera sales over the years. We also shared a delicious meal, learned some sign language, met their two cats Panchito & Frijol, and then took a walk to the local apiary for a quick tour of their beekeeping operation!

Our annual teacher trip to Guatemala has been off to an amazing start the past few days, with a visit to the Iximche ruins, a lovely gathering with our partners at IMAP, a visit to a local school in San Lucas Tolimán, conversations with some of our newest artisan partners, and plenty of exploring around the beautiful Lake Atitlan. More updates to come!

Feliz Día de la Madre a todas las mujeres increíbles que forman parte de nuestra familia Pulsera Project en Guatemala!

We're elated to share with you that this past week we've started the construction & improvement of fourteen homes in Santiago de Atitlán that will benefit pulsera artisans & their families from our partner organization Cojolya.

Each pulsera purchased in U.S. schools contributes to the development of these types of programs to greatly improve the living conditions of dozens of artisans in Central America.

Our housing program has been one of our most successful onging projects over the years in Nicaragua, in total representing $230,000 invested since 2014 on 101 unique projects for pulsera artisans and their families & communities.

We're excited to finally be introducing this program in Guatemala and we'll look forward to sharing the "after" pics with you all soon!

There are just a few sign-up blocks left for leading a pulsera sale this Spring! Dates remain open for all of May before the school year starts winding down -- if you've been thinking about leading a pulsera sale this school year, now might be the time ✨

We love seeing write-ups about pulsera sales in local media outlets! Here's a great one from Morris Area High in Minnesota -- thanks for the support amigas y amigos!

Morris Area High School raises awareness and funds for artists in Central America - Stevens County Times During the month of April, the Morris Area High School Spanish Club is selling hand-woven bracelets, or ‘pulseras’, in Spanish, to empower the artists who

From artisans of Central America right to schools in the U.S., nothing brings us more joy than helping to facilitate meaningful cultural exchange across borders 🧶🌈🇬🇹🇺🇸🇳🇮

Some Mother's Day gift ideas from MayaMam Weavers!

Mother's Day is a special occasion to show appreciation for all of the amazing women in your life. Our Mother's Day Gift Guide is filled with beautifully loomed gifts that not only honor the recipient but also celebrate the skill and craftsmanship of the maker. We have a wide range of gifts to select from including totes (wine, market and beach totes!), handwoven wraps, scarves, jewelry rolls, belts and more.
https://bit.ly/MayamamWeaversMothersDayGifts

Next Monday 4/15 is the last day to apply for a free trip to join us in Guatemala this summer thanks to our partnership with Vista Higher Learning!

To enter, simply submit a short video (two minutes or less) & a quick write-up sharing your experience with The Pulsera Project in your school. Two winners will have their flight & entire trip cost covered.

Full details can be found at www.pulseraproject.org/vhlguatemala

The Pulsera Project is now on TikTok! We’re still figuring out the ropes but excited to share a wide range of stuff from Pulsera world in the coming year!

Give us a follow at https://www.tiktok.com/.project

We've completely updated our "promote" page to make it even easier to access resources that will help share your pulsera sale with the school!

On top of a revamped layout we've also this year added Canva templates to share the success of your sale, a new calendar to help plan your event, on top of many other materials like posters, pulsera-gram templates, pulsera check-out sheets and more.

See everything we offer at www.pulseraproject.org/promote

There's plenty of time left to sign up for a pulsera sale this Spring! Dates for the second half of April, all of May, and all of June are wide open for your class or club. Choose your dates and get this year's pulsera sale started at www.pulseraproject.org/signup.

We’re happy to introduce a new addition to our ongoing “Quick Tips” video series created by longtime pulsera ambassador Hannah Joseph. The latest video gives a detailed breakdown of how you can incorporate our activities designed for elementary-aged students into your classroom & curriculum.

We hope some of you can find this helpful in navigating our library of materials -- what other quick-tip videos would you like to see in the future?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vT-2LrJpsYq1EikV1RHt9E1p5BG_i8nY/view

A great write-up on our collaboration with Puentes Language!

Our favorite little pulsera-helper Conrad here to let you know that there's still time to sign up for a pulsera sale this Spring!

Dates in April, May, and June are all open for anyone looking to add a splash of color into their school year!

www.pulseraproject.org/signup

Just a few weeks left to apply for the two free spots on our upcoming trip to Guatemala thanks to our partnership with Vista Higher Learning.

Two lucky winners who submit a short video about their experience with The Pulsera Project in their school will have all of their trip & flight expenses covered for an adventure to meet the artisans & communities at the heart of our work in Central America from July 10th - 18th.

The deadline to apply is coming up on April 15th, and full contest details can be found here:

www.pulseraproject.org/vhlguatemala

Contest winners will also receive $1,000 in free learning materials from Vista as an added bonus!

We absolutely love seeing artwork from every corner of the world! A group of students and teachers at Rabun County Schools sent us this adorable felted mushroom from local artisans at the The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center in Rabun County, GA as a thank you for our partnership.

Foxfire is an immersive outdoor museum dedicated to preserving the stories traditions and artwork of Southern Appalachia.

Art connects people from all different places, cultures and walks of life. This little mushroom fits in great, growing wild in a field of pulseras.

🪧⭐️Look for the JNCL-NCLIS Membership Badge signs at to start conversations about language advocacy!

These JNCL-NCLIS member organizations and companies are dedicated to supporting language teachers, students, and professionals across the nation!

Southern Conference on Language Teaching

Great write-up on the pulsera sale recently led by Spanish students at Westford Academy in Massachusetts. Thanks for the support Westford Academy & WA Ghostwriter!

Pulsera Project weaves connections between WA and Central America Each bracelet is handwoven, the unique, vibrant colors always different from the next. Each bracelet tells a story — one of culture and drive. These creations, sold in more than 3,600 schools worldwide, are so much more than decorative. They are a link to communities that stand continents away. Th...

Adventure & experiential learning are among the top values of The Pulsera Project. At every chance, we try to share new experiences with artisans, their families, and their communities.

While in Guatemala last week, we visited the town of San Juan La Laguna with a mix of artisans from Adisa, Aj Quen, Cojolya & Raiz Che, all members of our pulsera-making family.

For many of them it was their first time visiting the nearby town known for its beautiful vistas, pedestrian streets, and colorful murals commemorating community leaders. Aside from having coffee, lunch, and choco bananos, the real joy of the afternoon was sharing conversation & good vibes on a beautiful day with so many of the people at the heart of our work in Central America.

We’ll be set up at the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Minneapolis this weekend — please come say hi!

Members of our U.S. and Central American teams visited this past week with our friends and artisan partners at IMAP (Instituto Mesoamericano de Permacultura) for a day of camaraderie and to purchase new pulseras that will soon head to schools across the U.S. 🧶

We wanted to give a shoutout to Justine from West Career & Technical Academy in Nevada who made these amazing custom posters for her Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica's pulsera sale this past month. We're so impressed by the artistry and unique style. Thanks Justine!

We'll be set up this weekend at the CLTA- California Language Teachers Association conference in Monterey and the Southern Conference on Language Teaching conference in Atlanta! Come say hi to Olivia in California and Jillian in Georgia if you'll be in attendance!