What we do
Connections that make an impact.
Since 2018, we’ve been fostering global partnerships by supporting teachers and doctors to help empower and elevate marginalized communities across the globe.
Our first partner school in 1984.
Our Story
Deep and meaningful relationships don’t happen overnight. In 1981, John Hershman, a young missionary from Richmond, Virginia, started working with two Mayan Indian villages in Belize to help them build community infrastructure. Over the next few decades and with the help of volunteers from the West End Assembly of God in Richmond, John watched his vision grow as they built clinics, a church and a primary school, and they were even able to create a school sponsorship program for the children of the Red Bank and Mayan Mopan villages.
Almost 40 years later, Anna Laughlin, an American teacher and John’s daughter, met Magnolia Pop, a former student of that sponsorship program and current teacher at the Mayan Mopan school. Over a bowl of chicken stew, they realized their shared dream of supporting underserved teachers in Belize. With help from a large network of friends, family, and educators, both in the US and Belize, the team began working to promote education and healthcare in these communities by creating global partnerships and providing virtual training for Belizean educators and healthcare workers.
All of this wouldn’t be possible without the original “Mission Man” and beloved father John Hershman. Anna founded Mission Equip in his vision, and though he may not have seen how far his vision would go back in 1981, it’s his passion for making meaningful connections and uniting hearts and souls across borders that continues to inspire everything we do.
What we do
By creating global partnerships among educators and healthcare workers, Mission Equip seeks to empower and elevate marginalized communities around the world through its two projects, the Teacher to Teacher Project and the Doctor to Doctor Project.
Education
In resource-limited schools, particularly in developing nations, there are barriers that impede learning and teaching and ultimately cause the achievement gap to widen —and one of the largest barriers is the lack of professional development. With this in mind, we provide a balanced approach to professional development that helps educators grow and collaborate through real-time lesson modeling, in-class coaching and virtual professional development workshops.
Healthcare
In disenfranchised communities around the world, the social determinants of health are a complex and seemingly insurmountable challenge. But for true equity to happen, partnerships are needed to help ensure all members of those communities have access to the resources they need to live a healthy life. That’s why work to provide a platform that doctors, dentists and nurses in marginalized communities can use to partner with healthcare professionals around the world who can share the latest techniques and procedures in the field of medicine.
Where we are
Our roots — and hearts — are in Belize. Though we’ve established long-term relationships, in Belize, and those roots are growing, we’re always looking for new opportunities to create more meaningful connections with marginalized communities in other developing nations.
Get Involved
The Teacher to Teacher Project
If you are an experienced K-8 teacher or administrator interested in developing cross-cultural partnerships with your colleagues around the world, consider joining one of our virtual or in-person teaching teams.
The Doctor to Doctor Project
If you are a licensed doctor, dentist, nurse, or mental health professional interested in developing cross-cultural partnerships with your colleagues around the world, consider joining one of our virtual or in-person training teams.
Contact Us
For more information on the application process and current needs, contact Jaime Woltz, Project Coordinator at jaime@mission-equip.com
What your donation does
Your donation provides curriculum, resources and supplies to teachers and healthcare providers who work in resource-limited communities.
Your donation allows teachers and health care providers to grow in their professional abilities and strengths rather than us providing this for them.
Your donation directly improves the lives of students and patients in critical need by allowing their teachers and health care providers to offer cutting edge techniques
and care.
Your donation directly improves each community where a teacher or healthcare provider receives ongoing professional development.
Your donation helps underscore the cost of sending American professionals to developing countries to train teachers and healthcare professionals.