Mayte Ruiz Garcia is a team lead in the Eastern Coachella Valley, supervising a team of four canvassers co-leading action research activities, and helping develop focus group discussions to document the experiences and impacts of wildfires and smoke. Since the beginning of Mayte’s time with CNC Education Fund, she has served on various civic engagement programs to get out the vote, COVID-19 education, and wildfire and smoke exposure due to climate change and illegal dumping and burning. In each of these projects, she engaged neighbors and families, organized community events, and provided resources and technical assistance, helping support countless families in the Valley.

Mayte grew up in Ejido Adolfo Oribe de Alva, on the coast of Caborca, Sonora, Mexico. When she was 15, her family relocated to Mecca in the Eastern Coachella Valley to access more educational opportunities for her and her younger brother. Since she was little, her parents instilled in her the importance of honesty, trust, perseverance, faith, and giving back. 

Those same values guided Mayte from childhood to her teenage years, where she was incremental in raising funds through her high school’s Red Cross Club to provide an accordion to a classmate undergoing chemotherapy so he could learn to play. Additionally, when one of her classmates passed away in a car accident, she and the club members raised funds to help contribute to the funeral expenses. For the holidays, she also helped organize toy drives in some of the unincorporated cities of the Eastern Coachella Valley.

Into adulthood, Mayte gained her U.S. citizenship and began working with CNC Education Fund, fulfilling her passion for guiding and supporting her neighbors to finish the development of their unfinished neighborhoods that lack paved sidewalks, medical clinics, and other necessities. 

Mayte holds a Medical Office Specialist Certificate of Achievement and an Associate in Accounting from the College of the Desert.