On the cusp of a new year, Latinitas has debuted a new mission that beautifully reflects the organization’s growth and direction. The new mission statement is “To empower girls and their communities through culturally relevant education” and touches on the key aspects that set Latinitas apart; their culture, and curriculum which go beyond helping their younger students and now extend to multi-generational members of the community. Latinitas also debuted a new vision which hopes to see “A future where Latinas lead with confidence”. This vision is at the heart of every program Latinitas implements, and I’m optimistic in suggesting we are well on our way to that future. To quote the organization’s new tagline, which correlates effortlessly, Latinitas is set on “Inspiring Confidence. Empowering Community.” Latinitas Magazine caught up with a few members from the Latinitas community to shed light on this exciting evolution and what it means for the future.
Why This Mission Statement, Why Now?
While Latinitas has always prided itself on empowering girls, this new mission statement aims to do more by aiding not only our students, but also “their communities”. For more insight, we were thrilled to speak to the woman in charge, Latinitas Executive Director Gabriela Kane Guardia on this new addition, “Over the years it’s become clear that our programs were empowering young girls, their families, and their communities. We found that parents were asking for digital resources, especially in response to the pandemic and extended family members were also looking to grow their network or get extra support in workforce readiness.” These observations resulted in Latinitas Multi-Gen programs Padres Digitales, Tech Familia, and Workforce Readiness, all aimed at empowering the entire family unit by providing adults with digital literacy, opportunities for tech exploration, and workforce skills, “We realized that we could grow our impact by supporting the entire network around the girl.”
According to Kane Guardia, Latinitas wanted to address the role families play in a student’s ultimate success head-on, “We know that Latino households are often multi-generational households where the family and community members play a central part in shaping someone’s identity. So we’ve come to understand that when a girl feels supported by her community, she gains confidence and resilience. When the girl thrives, her family thrives and she’s inspiring those around her.”
This new mission also sees the inclusion of “Culturally relevant education”, for more information on this Latinitas Magazine spoke with Latinitas Board President Ricky Murray Ramos and Latinitas Board Member Ana Villegas, “Cultural relevancy has always been at the core of Latinitas.” Ramos states, “We have some girls where English isn’t their first language. So having instructors who are on that same level who can meet them where they’re at, who can go inside of their communities, who oftentimes grew up in those communities is such a great way for us to highlight the cultural significance of the organization. So now including it in the mission really just doubles down our focus on the cultural relevancy of the org.”
“These are things we were already doing, but now we’re calling more attention to them,” explains Villegas. “We work with mentors who are relatable models. We try to bring Latinas or women of color who are leaders in the community to talk to the girls and share their stories.” This new addition to the mission is imperative to the success of Latinitas students. As Kane Guardia suggests, “Culturally relevant education ensures that students really see themselves reflected in the curriculum. They understand how their heritage and community are a source of strength. They recognize the ways that their education can address real-world things that matter to them. So it’s not just about a learning environment, it’s about empowering students through things that are relevant so that they see themselves represented in their school and in their education.”
Throughout her time at Latinitas, Kane Guardia has experienced just how life-altering this level of accessibility can be for the community, “I’ve seen culturally relevant education firsthand transform a family’s life, especially through our Padres Digitales program. There was a mom named Amanda who said, ‘learning how to use a computer was like she was blind and now she can see’. Now she’s able to keep up with her students’ progress in school, she’s able to communicate with teachers and she’s able to get updates from the school community. We see that Padres Digitales is a special culturally relevant space because the parents come together, they bring food and they have a camaraderie with each other while they’re learning computer skills.”
When it comes to the “Why Now” of it all, according to Kane Guardia, this decision wasn’t taken lightly, “It was a long, thoughtful process.” One that included talks with the Latinitas Board of Directors, the insight of the community, and the advice of one specific Board Member (and Chief Marketing Officer) Ana Villegas, “We have a wonderful advisory council that has given us valuable insight into what Latinitas means to them as well. And so with the board’s leadership, the leadership of the staff, the consultants, and our community’s input, we’ve been able to really define the audience that Latinitas serves and the impact that we want to have for our community.”
So, What’s Changing?
In short, “New mission, same great programs.” Kane Guardia explains with a smile. A sentiment Villegas echos, “Latinitas in itself is not changing, it’s just that we are now talking about all the amazing things that Latinitas does through this platform.” Internally, this change has been affectionately referred to as Latinitas 2.0, “When you think of 2.0 people think of a revision, but I’d say 2.0 is more like one plus one equals two in our sense.” Ramos explains, “We had a strong foundation, now we’re just refining it.”
As Kane Guardia puts it, Latinitas’ new mission offers an opportunity for growth, “With Latinitas 2.0 We are continuing to maintain all of our same great programming, but we are also considering expanding our multi-generational programming to better support families.” Explains Kane Guardia, “We will stay firm in our commitment to empowering girls through informal STEM learning experiences, bringing relatable role models, and meaningful experiences to them.”
A New Era
Coinciding with the new mission statement is also the exciting anniversary of Kane Guardia’s first year of being Executive Director of Latinitas, “I think that Gabi has been fundamental in everything that has been done for this evolution of Latinitas.” Villegas states, pointing out that Kane Guardia spent six months as Interim Executive Director before accepting the role. “I agree.” Ramos chimes in, “I think there’s something to be said about the leadership of coming into an organization and listening first and then acting later. And I think the past year it has been a lot of us listening, Gabi listening to staff, to community, to each other. And now here we are a year later re-launching a new mission and a new vision and all of that was really done with such a collaborative approach.”
Throughout our conversation, Kane Guardia opened up about how much she related to Latinitas’ own mission and how she wished she had a program like that growing up, “When I arrived at my undergraduate program at Texas A&M University, I felt isolated in my engineering courses. There were not many peers who looked like me. I didn’t meet many Latinas in my program. None of the professors or role models in the program looked like me. And I felt disconnected between my identity and my aspirations. I feel like if I had the opportunity to experience a program like Latinitas, I would’ve had a lot more affirmation in seeing the representation of Latinas succeeding in the engineering field. To learn that my background was not a barrier, but a strength in my education. It’s one of the main reasons I’m so passionate about this work today.”
Given her past, this truly feels like a role Kane Guardia was meant to take on. As she reminisces on the past year, she’s inspired by all the organization has accomplished, “A moment that I am immensely proud to have experienced in the last year was our Startup Chica conference in San Antonio. We had Congressman Joaquin Castro and his family in attendance. And for me, that was truly a marker of how far we’ve come and the kind of opportunities that we have to share with our community.” Not to mention the Startup competition itself was inspiring, “Watching their confidence as they were presenting their projects was a powerful reminder of why we do the work we do.” Kane Guardia finishes.
Though Latinitas’ mission may be new, to the hard workers at the organization, there is nothing “new” about it. Latinitas has been serving students, and their communities, through culturally relevant education since the beginning. Just as Latinitas started out as a magazine, yet has continued to expand on the programs and opportunities offered, this mission isn’t an indication of a radical shift, so much as an exciting update to the great work Latinitas has been doing since 2002. As Latinitas said in their official statement: While our mission has evolved, our programs remain as effective and inspiring as ever.
For more information on the new tagline, vision, or mission statement, as well as the four pillars of Latinitas, you can click here.
