2021 Fall Latinx Leads Conference Schedule will be updated soon but please check out our Spring Conference sessions to learn more about the content we offer.
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Welcome & Keynote Session
10:00am – 11:15am EST
9:00am – 10:15am CST
8:00am – 9:15am MST
7:00am – 8:15am PST
Workshop Title: Remaining Calm in the Storm: Mindfulness Practices as a Means of Creating Safe Spaces
Presenter: Juan-Carlos Piñeiro, M.A., Westchester Community College
Students have all at some point experienced many of the stressors that are prevalent within the higher education experience. Between paying for college, grades, coursework, deadlines, and more it is quite easy to get lost in the midst of it all and also loose a sense of drive and purpose. The reality is that stressful environments with stressed-out individuals tend to foment a space in which creative challenge solving, spontaneous cognition, intuitive discernment and transformational leadership become limited at best and stifled at worst. Throughout this workshop, Juan-Carlos will offer various tools and practices to assist in creating your own experience of mindfulness along with sharing various steps for the creation of spaces that enhance productivity, a sense of purpose among community members and serve as havens rather than additional stressors. Juan-Carlos encourages his students, readers and listeners to cultivate their own inner teacher & practice nonjudgmental, compassionate, self-awareness throughout their own individual journeys. Infusing positive energy and inspiration he uses music, humor, storytelling and poetry to create a fun, and safe space to de-stress the mind, strengthen the body and connect to spirit.
Session Block: I
11:30am – 12:45pm EST
10:30am – 11:45am CST
9:30am – 10:45am MST
8:30am – 9:45am PST
Session A
Workshop Title: Confronting and Combatting Anti-Blackness in the Latinx Community
Presenters: Ayannah Johnson M.Ed. & Jose Luis Posos, M.Ed., LPC
Anti-blackness is certainly alive and well in the Latinx community. From brushing off jokes that are racist to using questionable nicknames for people who are Black to interrogating Black Latinxs about their identity, there is a significant amount of work that needs to occur to effectively combat these bigoted behaviors. This workshop focuses on addressing how non-Black Latinxs perpetuated anti-blackness inside and outside the Latinx community through self-exploration of one’s conditioning and unconscious biases.
Session B: Intermediate
Workshop Title: “You’re so lucky you’re white:” Colorism and inequity in Latinx Communities
Presenter: Bianca Altamirano Kelly, MSW
Participants will be asked to discuss their own language and perceptions around colorism in the Latinx community and how that contributes to internalized oppression, disenfranchisement, and a disconnection from our Afro-Latinx brothers and sisters. Supporting the BLM movement, for example, is one way we can promote equity across the country in multiple areas, but recognition of Latinidad as an identity that goes beyond borders and color to promote social change and political activism.
Session C
Workshop Title: Navigating Academia in Predominantly White Colleges and Universities: A Guide to Equip First Generation Students of Color to Thrive in Higher Education
Presenter: Krystal Cruz, Teachers College
Drawing upon experiential and academic knowledge, this session serves to provide strategies for first- generation students of color (SOC) to navigate predominantly white academic institutions. Experiential knowledge will center on the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and ability, aiming to share lived experiences to illuminate differing trajectories of success. Strategies include mentorship, mental health- seeking behavior, identity-based student group campus spaces, safe and inclusive spaces, and bias incident reporting systems.
Session D: Beginners/Intermediate
Workshop Title: Know Your WORTH: How Talking About Salary Uncovers Much More
Presenter: Valerie Gomez, LMSW, Texas State University
Negotiating one’s salary is an important skill throughout a professional career however, these conversations can be uncomfortable for professionals at any level, especially for the Latinx community and women. Women working full time in the United States are paid 80 percent of what white, non-Hispanic men are paid – a gap of 20 percent and for Latinx women the gap is even worse at 46 percent. This workshop will review how Texas State University facilitated difficult dialogue through research-based salary negotiation workshops. The presentation will include actionable steps to ensuring that attendees are getting paid what they are worth. *There will be a cap of 45 participants who can attend the above workshop (Session A). Hence, those who can attend the workshop will be based on first come first served.
Session E
Workshop Title: Who Am I? … Where am I Going?
Presenter: Belle Espinal, M.A.
To know where we are going, we must know where we come from. Life is meant to be created, let’s create our path together for the betterment of the multiverse! This workshop will give you the opportunity to explore how your past influences but does not dictate your present. Additionally, this workshop will increase your aware as when you may be responding to the present or reacting to your past.
Break
12:45pm – 1:15pm EST
11:45am – 12:15pm CST
10:45am – 11:15am MST
9:45am – 10:15am PST
Session Block: II
1:15pm – 2:30PM EST
12:15pm – 1:30pm CST
11:15am – 12:30pm MST
10:15am – 11:30am PST
Session A: Beginners
Workshop Title: Latinx and ___________: The Intersectionality of our Varies Identities
Presenter: Jose Luis Posos, M.Ed., LPC
Identity, the way we see ourselves concerning those around us, is comprised of many traits and social roles, chosen and unchosen, visible, and invisible. Identity can be the source of our most exceptional pride and the site of our greatest vulnerability. The most painful emotional attacks are the ones that are aimed at who we are. In this thought-provoking webinar, participants will have the opportunity to consider the impact of multiple aspects of their own identities and share their stories with others engaged in the same process of discovery.
Session B: Intermediate
Workshop Title: Telling Our Stories and Creating Empowerment in Nuestras Communidades
Presenter: Bianca Altamirano Kelly, MSW, University of Washington
This workshop will focus on student empowerment movements dating back to the first notions of the Chicanx movements through to current day issues in equity across college campuses and in our own neighborhoods. Have you ever wondered why advocacy isn’t taught to our young people? Have you ever noticed that advocacy looks different with different populations? There are multiple ways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion that begin with telling our stories in ways that connect communities who have been divided by intentional power differentials in our policies and institutions.
Session C: Intermediate
Workshop Title: Implicit Bias in Higher Education: What’s Really Going On
Presenter: Christopher Irving, Ed.D., Ceceilyn Miller Institute for Leadership & Diversity in America
Through a series of presentations, discussions and experiential activities, this interactive session will explore the knowledge and skills needed for participants to (1) understand where implicit or unconscious biases come from and that we all have them, (2) learn to recognize their own blind-spots and (3) apply strategies for reducing the impact of implicit bias in their campus communities.
Session D: Advisors, Faculty, and Higher Ed Professionals Only
Workshop Title: Building on Support Services for Undocumented Students on your College or University
Presenter: Nancy Jodaitis, Director of Higher Education Initiatives, Immigrants Rising
Education is a human right! Over 98,000 undocumented students graduate from US high schools every year. Yet only a small percentage are able to successfully enter higher education. Join this workshop to gain key learnings, invaluable resources, and specific strategies to increase the academic success and career path of undocumented students on your campus.
Session E
Workshop Title: Walking the Walk, Talking the talk: Increasing congruence
Presenter: Kimberly Johnson, M.A., Montgomery College
Commitment is the energy that motivates the individual to serve and that drives the collective effort. In this workshop students will learn to build commitment within a group, and the process of learning relationships between individual commitments and collaborative commitments. Understanding this will show the intensity and duration of collaboration commitment to a shared goal. In this creative and interactive workshop, we will define goals and importance of visualizing them. Discuss how creating your vision board and “S.M.A.R.T.” goals can be a powerful tool to achieving your goals.
Session Block: III
2:45PM – 3:45pm EST
1:45pm – 2:45pm CST
12:45pm – 1:45pm MST
11:45am – 12:45pm PST
Session A: Beginners
Workshop Title: Creating Your Success
Presenters: Candido Crespo & James Jacobsen, One Love Art Sessions
Creativity has and continues to be a key to success in all industries. Crespo and Jacobsen are currently professionals in the arts for over a decade. By sharing their experiences as Art/Art Education majors at SUNY New Paltz, they will explore a variety of topics such as: Belonging, Self-Identity, Organizational Involvement, and Community.
Session B: Intermediate
Workshop Title: “I’m not sorry!” Ending our Unhealth Relationship with I’m Sorry
Presenter: Ayannah Johnson, M.Ed., New Jersey City University
We often say some variation of “sorry” for trivial and unnecessary reasons. This can undermine our efficacy as leaders, advocates, and activists. The overuse and misuse of “sorry” can also result in minimizing others’ confidence in our ideas and abilities. Often, those in positions of privilege are less likely to apologize, even when it is appropriate. In this session, we will explore the appropriate use of the words and how to evaluate when to truly apologize. It is not about changing who you are rather it is about being intentional in how we show up.
Session C
Workshop Title: Your Resume, Interview and Everything in Between
Presenter: Fredmier Melendez, Ceceilyn Miller Institute for Leadership & Diversity in America
You are graduating soon and will begin your career path. For many of us, we enter the world of corporate America with little guidance on where and how to begin. This presentation shares best practices to improve your resume, prepare for the job interview, and what to do next. Freddy Melendez is a sales and marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the Public Relations, Travel & Hospitality, and SaaS industries. He has worked for small-to-medium sized companies, international businesses, and Fortune 5000 businesses.
Session D: Informational Session
Workshop Title: Global Leadership through Service
Presenter: DuVale Riley, Sr. Diversity Recruiter
Join us to hear from Latinx Peace Corps Volunteers about the challenging, rewarding, and inspirational moments of service. Ask questions about their experience that helped these global leaders achieve their greatness today and how you can get involved.
Session E
Workshop Title: S.M.A.R.T. GOALS: Turning your vision into reality
Presenter: Kimberly Johnson, M.A., Montgomery College
Does your behavior match your values and beliefs? Congruence requires a person to have a deeply felt consciousness of self. During the congruence workshop students will identify obstacles to congruence and how they can be overcome. During this session, students will get to explore their own values and beliefs and be challenged to think critically. This workshop will also help to also emphasis how one’s own values, identity and culture can impact decisions.
Session Block IV
4:00pm – 5:00pm EST
3:00pm – 4:00pm CST
2:00pm – 3:00pm MST
1:00pm – 2:00pm PST
Workshop Title: Developing a Campus Action Plan
Presenter: Latinx Leads Facilitation Team
In the culminating activity of the 2021Latinx Leads Virtual Conference, students and advisors will meet in their campus groups, select the first campus issue they plan to address when they return to school and brainstorm action steps to begin to implement their plan. Campus groups will present their action plans to each other to permit sharing of ideas across campuses.