We are currently in the process of transitioning to Latinas/Latinos al Éxito with a Board of Directors and are ready to file Articles of Incorporation as a 501(3)c so we can secure funding to sustain the current projects and expand to additional locations in Iowa. We currently have Latinas projects in five school districts and are piloting a Latinos project as a response to requests from Latino families involved in our projects. We hope to secure enough funding to support a couple more projects by next year and to hire a part-time executive director.

AAUW’s founders initiated a cultural shift that recognized women’s ability to succeed through higher education and assume productive roles in society. In this century, in this and the next decade, immigrant Latinas are our disenfranchised sisters, whose access to higher education is limited by culturally-shaped educational and economic barriers. Latinas al Éxito works within the culture to break through the barriers and encourage Latinas to pursue higher education and assume productive roles in society. By adding Latinos in parallel projects, we believe we will broaden advocacy for expanded roles for both Latinas and Latinos.

I am interested in hearing about other projects that have similar goals.