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Overview

Latinx Young Leaders in Advocacy Program

Miami—New York—San Francisco—Los Angeles—San Antonio

The Latinx Young Leaders in Advocacy Program (LEAD.Latinoamérica) is an immersive ten-day Latinx student leadership program and service trip in Latin America. The program brings together ten Latinx high school students for a groundbreaking initiative to identify and address the similarities and disparities among the various Latinx communities throughout the US.

 

Each participant will be selected on the basis of their leadership potential and commitment to community advocacy. Two students will be selected from five cities located in different regions - Miami, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Antonio.

 

Students will participate in workshops, seminars, and in-depth discussions on topics in Latin American history, culture, identity, and politics, as they relate to Latinxs in the United States and the global Latinx community. Students will be engaged in the local Latin American community as volunteers with a community-led service project.

 

Furthermore, LEAD.Latinoamérica will provide mentorship and services to help students throughout their entire college application process, and will offer its network to help secure a summer internship for interested students.

 

The purpose of the program is to provide students with any and all resources and support to engage in effective dialogue in the United States to unify the Latinx voice while celebrating our cultural differences. At the end of the program, students will have developed new skills and learned approaches that will help in dealing with issues in the local, national, and global Latinx community.

It is important for all of us to appreciate where we come from and how that history has really shaped us in ways that we might not understand.

 

Sonia Sotomayor

The Three Program Components

Upon completion of this program, students will be equipped with novel approaches to persistent issues in the local, national, and global Latino community, primed to lead and advocate for social change as it relates to people of all backgrounds.

Component I

Education

Students will participate in workshops, seminars, and in-depth discussions on topics in Latin American history, culture, identity, and politics, as they relate to Latinxs in the United States and the global Latino community, which includes those in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. As they strengthen their grasp of contemporary issues and reshape their Latinx identity, students will refine their leadership skills and devise new strategies to address the needs of their immediate and newly embraced communities, under the guidance of accomplished leaders in community advocacy.

Component II

Service

Students will engage in service and substantive discourse with the local community as volunteers with a community-led service project. Every day, students will handle tasks and responsibilities crucial to the completion of this project under the direction of a local project supervisor. This project, requested and directed by the community, will afford students the chance to develop a transcontinental Latino identity, expanding their cultural bond to include not only Latinxs across the country, but throughout all Latin America.

Component III

Continued Support

LEAD.Latinoamérica is thoroughly committed to students’ long-term academic and professional success. To ensure they apply and refine the skills they learned while abroad, students will coordinate local service projects in their own communities with ongoing support and guidance from LEAD.Latinoamérica staff. In addition, LEAD.Latinoamérica will provide mentorship and direct services to assist students throughout their entire college application process. Lastly, for those interested, LEAD.Latinoamérica will utilize its network to secure a summer internship for interested students, which they will begin when they return to the United States.

Program Goals for Students

LEAD.Latinoamérica believes strongly in gauging students’ measurable success. To that end, LEAD.Latinoamérica maintains the following program goals for each student:

Complete community-led service project on site

Complete community-led
US regional service project

Secure summer internship
for interested students

Ensure students continue
their pursuit of higher education after high school

Program Objectives

LEAD.Latinoamérica strives to align these goals to broader program objectives, which reflect the fundamental vision and values upon which LEAD.Latinoamérica was founded. These objectives are:

  • Shift dialogue within the Latinx community, delving deeper into the overlapping and differing advocacy efforts and challenges of every Latinx community. â€‹

  • Share these insights with the broader Latinx community to prompt novel discussions on our shared Latino identity, our cultural and geographical diversity, and a refined vision for the Latino community. â€‹

  • Afford opportunities for personal growth, academic support, and professional advancement for students with an abundance of potential but lacking in the resources that promote students’ success.​

  • Foster current and future social change initiatives developed and implemented by LEAD.Latinoamérica participants.​

  • Carefully monitor the physical and emotional well-being of each participant by creating an environment of respect among participants and the communities we work with, and maintaining an efficient network of health care professionals, and trained staff attuned to the needs of participants, parents, and all involved with LEAD.Latinoamérica.

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