On Oct. 16 and 17, LatinxEd welcomed over 300 leaders focused on the current and future state of education in North Carolina to the Latine Education Summit in Greensboro. The summit brought together students, educators, storytellers, and other educational professionals centered on the theme, “Ignite and Unite.”
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During the opening remarks of the summit, LatinxEd’s director of leadership advancement, Kiara Aranda, stated that the summit is “a celebration of our people, our power, and our purpose,” adding that it was an opportunity to “build connections that ignite and unite our communities forward.”
Like in years past, the fifth annual summit consisted of several panel discussions, breakout sessions and workshops, and an awards ceremony. However, for the first time this year, the organization also announced its new policy priorities to guide its work ahead.
Leading with the ‘discipline of hope’
A panel discussion featuring LatinxEd co-founders Elaine Utin and Ricky Hurtado focused on the topic of “Latine education in a new political era.” In his remarks, Hurtado emphasized the need to ground himself “in the reality of this moment,” as opposed to turning off the news, which is often the easier option.
“I think grounding myself in what’s happening — letting myself mourn and feel what I need to feel will allow me to move forward through that moment,” he said.
This sentiment correlated with the acknowledgement of several issues at the federal and state levels that contribute to the current political climate, including but not limited to:
- No approved comprehensive state budget by the North Carolina General Assembly at the time of this article,
- Continued arrests and deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) nationwide,
- Uncertainty regarding the Leandro decision for school funding, and
- Changes to education policy for Hispanic-serving institutions, minority-serving institutions, and multilingual learners.
With all that is taking place, Hurtado expressed that he can’t “ignore what’s happening right now.”
In the audience Q&A segment, one attendee asked, “How do you remain hopeful in these times where it feels just very overwhelming?”
In her response, Utin shared that Hurtado has taught her about the value of hope in leadership in the midst of challenge, change, conflict, and chaos.
She continued by distinguishing “hope” from “positivity,” describing hope as a practice that consists of reflection, gratitude, and mindfulness. Likening it to going to the gym, Utin explained that hope is a discipline. “You do it even though you don’t want to do it,” she said.
Further, she reminded listeners:
- “We can do hard things.”
- To remember the feeling after, “you’re going to feel stronger, I’m going to feel more energized, I’m going to feel more hopeful.”
- Following a deep exhale, she shared, “In many hard times, I have to breathe. That’s a part of my practice too.”
Acknowledging that leaders are responsible for more than just themselves, Utin had another piece of advice for those gathered. “We have to find our discipline of hope and our discipline of practice in that, because we are leading others to and through change,” she said.
More now than ever, to be in community is one of the biggest acts of rest. I feel like we can take for ourselves. Especially because organizations like LatinxEd have given us the ability to have these spaces to interconnect across North Carolina, when oftentimes we have been so siloed in our spaces.
— Jaime Cabellos, graduate student in North Carolina
Introducing policy priorities
Day one of the summit featured several breakout sessions, which included various topics such as dismantling exclusionary practices in education, the rise of Latine representation in public office, and rethinking pedagogy in Spanish classrooms.
On the second day, attendees organized into groups by regions to build community and identify strengths and opportunities in their respective areas. In the Piedmont/Southwest groups, for instance, discussion culminated in a shared desire for a regional coalition following the event, which would allow participants to share important information and resources that benefit students and educators in their regions.
Notably, LatinxEd also launched its first set of policy priorities. According to LatinxEd’s curriculum and program specialist Lucia Lozano Robledo, it has always been a goal for the organization “to get to a place where we have built such a solid network, such a solid community, that we can step into this policy-making arm and start making that systemic change.”
Lozano Robledo shared that LatinxEd’s policy priorities were developed from years of listening to different voices in its community since its founding in 2018. This includes themes that were derived from its SomosNC Report and the 2024 Nuestra Esperanza: What Education Leaders Need to Thrive Report.
Thus, the REAP (Representation, Engagement, Adequate funding, Postsecondary pathways) framework for their policy priorities was introduced:
- Representation: Deepen investment in multilingual & multicultural educator workforce.
- Engagement: Expand language access and family engagement.
- Adequate funding: Fully fund and support public schools.
- Postsecondary pathways: Increase postsecondary access and workforce development.
Learn more about LatinxEd’s policy priorities here.
A message to community
The Latine Education Summit dedicates time to recognizing the contributions of leaders in the education field. As a part of the celebration, three leaders were honored with the following awards:
- “In Lak’ech” award presented to Elizabeth Herrera, co-founder and director of community advancement for Casa Azul de Wilson.
- “More Leaders, More Graduates” award presented to Sergio Madera-Garcia, college readiness counselor at the Emily K Center.
- “From Dreams to Action” award presented to Jenice Ramirez-Garvin, co-executive director of the Education Justice Alliance.
Importantly, the summit concluded with a presentation of flowers to Utin, recognizing her leadership over the past seven years. As she prepares to transition to her next endeavor, she offered a tearful and heartfelt blessing to her community at her final summit as LatinxEd’s executive director.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you, be gracious to you, and give you peace,” Utin said. It’s the blessing that Utin’s ancestors called as they tucked her in during her childhood, she explained.
“Their blessing cloaked me as I rested my eyes and drifted off to a land unknown. A land that wasn’t designed to preserve my culture, the innermost parts of who I am. A school that tried to erase the rich history of those who came before me. A system that asked me to relinquish my power to survive. Their blessings helped me reach a mountaintop,” she added.
With the weight of her ancestors’ wildest dreams on her back, Utin says that she reached the mountaintop — “the ones we dreamed of” — though not without battle wounds on her body and a grieving heart.
That is when “a new blessing arises from the heavens, and it takes me down from the mountain top into the roots that built it. It shows me the resilience and the power within me, within us. It shows me the blueprint for our collective liberation. It shows me where fertile ground lies to plant and start anew,” she said.
Utin had one final message for her community.
“Each of us represents a seedling trying to grow. Trying to find their way. Trying to grow from concrete. So I offer this blessing to you, as you find your way to thriving,” she said. “May the Lord bless you and keep you.”
The biggest thing I think that makes LatinxEd special is the tagline, “From dreams to action.” And I think this is just an example of how we actually get to live that out. It’s very different from other conferences I go to because of the emphasis on the action. We’re not just sharing ideas, but we’re making connections to where we can actually make those dreams happen in our communities. It’s really rare to be in a space where I can see other people that share the same identity as me. I think there’s so much power in being able to see that I’m not alone in my story, and there’s people that share those stories and those identities and that culture with me. And we’re all trying to create change, to uplift our communities.
— Mariana Chavez, 2023 LatinxEd Fellow
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