How My Peace Corps Experience in Guatemala Shaped United and Guided’s Vision for Equity
By Imani Lucas, MS
Executive Director, United and Guided
In 2002, when I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, I found myself in the middle of a national economic crisis. The rural poor—especially small-scale farmers—were facing devastating losses as global coffee and cardamom prices plummeted. I was assigned to the Foundation for the Development and Education of the Indigenous Woman (FUNDEMI) Talita Kumi, where I worked as an analyst studying the feasibility of purchasing a community-owned cardamom dryer.
The idea was simple: give small farmers a tool to preserve the quality of their product so they could bypass exploitative intermediaries and sell directly to buyers at fair prices. But when I ran the numbers, the loan interest rates and infrastructure costs made the project unfeasible. What stayed with me wasn’t the failed business plan—it was the people.
Many of the farmers I worked with spoke only Kekchí, an Indigenous Mayan language, and had little access to the financial literacy, technical assistance, or market information needed to compete in a changing world. Their struggle wasn’t just about agriculture—it was about voice, access, and self-determination. Even the best-intentioned aid efforts faltered when they overlooked the community’s cultural context or imposed external definitions of success.
That lesson—about listening before leading—became the cornerstone of my life’s work.
From Global Poverty to Local Health Inequity
Two decades later, I carry those same lessons into my work as Executive Director of United and Guided (UAG) in Sacramento, California. Our mission is to develop economic security and emotional wellness in underserved communities through education, service learning, and local ownership.
In many ways, the families I work with now mirror those I met in Guatemala. Both face systemic barriers that limit access to opportunity and health. Both navigate institutions that weren’t designed for their realities. And both possess immense strength, resilience, and cultural wisdom that too often go unrecognized.
At UAG, we approach community health the way I learned to approach development in Guatemala—with humility, respect for lived experience, and a commitment to co-creation. Our Co-Ed Doula Care model, for instance, pairs male and female doulas to support both parents during pregnancy and postpartum. It’s a structure rooted in partnership—one that values fathers as co-nurturers and essential to family health outcomes.
Likewise, our Perinatal Equity Initiative and Black Fathers Inc. programs work with African-American fathers to build trust, connection, and wellness through culturally grounded spaces like Real Pop Talk and Self-Care Sundays. These are not “services” in the traditional sense—they are shared learning environments, where every participant is both student and teacher.
Building Markets or Building Trust
In Guatemala, I learned that before you can improve markets, you must build trust. In Sacramento, before we can improve health systems, we must do the same. Fathers and families—especially those impacted by racism, poverty, or incarceration—often distrust institutions that have historically marginalized them.
Through UAG’s Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Day Habilitation programs under California’s CalAIM initiative, we create closed-loop systems where care is coordinated, transparent, and culturally relevant. Just as I once worked to make sure small farmers could negotiate fair prices, today I work to ensure families can negotiate fair access to healthcare, housing, and emotional support.
Full Circle: The Global Roots of Local Change
My Peace Corps experience taught me that sustainable change doesn’t happen when you “help” a community—it happens when you partner with one. In both the hills of Alta Verapaz and the neighborhoods of Sacramento, empowerment begins with the same question:
“What do you need—and how can we build it together?”
United and Guided is, in many ways, the continuation of that early mission. It’s development work translated across borders—from microcredit to mental health, from economic equity to birth equity.
What began with cardamom farmers in Guatemala now continues with fathers and families in California. Different languages, same truth:
lasting change grows from the ground up.
lasting change grows from the ground up.
Imani Lucas, MS, is a community health innovator, educator, and birth equity advocate dedicated to building father-inclusive systems of care. As Executive Director of United and Guided (UAG), Imani leads initiatives that bridge perinatal health, restorative justice, and emotional wellness through culturally grounded, community-owned models.
Under his leadership, UAG launched Co-Ed Doula Care—a groundbreaking model pairing male and female doulas to support both parents during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, strengthening co-parenting and reducing toxic stress. Through Black Fathers Inc. and the Perinatal Equity Initiative, he champions programs like Real Pop Talk, Self-Care Sundays, and Young Dads, creating safe spaces for African-American fathers to connect, heal, and lead within their families and communities.
With a background in emotional intelligence training and restorative mediation, Imani integrates neuroscience and trauma-informed practice to help families build resilience and resolve conflict through empathy and communication.
Beyond his professional work, Imani is passionate about fatherhood advocacy, birth equity systems change, and the development of emotional intelligence as a tool for community healing. His work embodies the belief that strong families—and stronger futures—begin when every parent, including fathers, is seen, valued, and supported.
Under his leadership, UAG launched Co-Ed Doula Care—a groundbreaking model pairing male and female doulas to support both parents during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, strengthening co-parenting and reducing toxic stress. Through Black Fathers Inc. and the Perinatal Equity Initiative, he champions programs like Real Pop Talk, Self-Care Sundays, and Young Dads, creating safe spaces for African-American fathers to connect, heal, and lead within their families and communities.
With a background in emotional intelligence training and restorative mediation, Imani integrates neuroscience and trauma-informed practice to help families build resilience and resolve conflict through empathy and communication.
Beyond his professional work, Imani is passionate about fatherhood advocacy, birth equity systems change, and the development of emotional intelligence as a tool for community healing. His work embodies the belief that strong families—and stronger futures—begin when every parent, including fathers, is seen, valued, and supported.