Description
Strategic Direction: Our strategy is to establish and maintain early intervention programs led by Hispanic professional role models to reduce the school dropout rate among Latino youth.
Role models volunteer their time sharing their diverse educational experiences, career paths, and ethnic backgrounds, in order to inspire students to increase their involvement and achievement in educational activities. Through this interaction the students recognize the possibilities that can be reached when one pursues higher education.
Focus
Student Population
- 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th grade Hispanic/Latino students attending public middle school
Target Venues
- Public schools with more than 50% Hispanic/Latino student body and existing community-based educational programs. Currently, this effort is concentrated on the east coast, but as experiences and resources grow, it will be expanded nationwide.
Key Resources
- Hispanic/Latino professionals willing to volunteer and become part of a Role Model Bureau within their communities
- Partnerships with existing corporate and civic organizations that have established similar mentoring/role model programs
- Tools to support the role models ensuring consistent and high quality deliverables
Key HISPA Educational Programs
Role Model Program: The main objective of the Role Model Program is for students to personally identify themselves with professionals who will inspire and motivate them to achieve their dreams. The Role Model Program raises students’ awareness of the importance of education as a mean to succeed professionally and realize their full potential.
The program pairs Hispanic/Latino role model volunteers with schools and community-based educational programs that are geographically close to where they live and work. After that the Role Model is asked to conduct a series of school visits in which the volunteers share their cultural backgrounds, educational experiences, professional careers and key experiences that allowed them to achieve their personal and professional goals.
The content and format of the presentations is tailored to the school and/or educational program venue-- ranging from informal classroom discussions to formal auditorium presentations.
Youth Conferences: Designed specifically for 8 th graders, the purpose of these one-day events is to stress the importance of high school as a critical step towards a bright future. HISPA’s Youth Conferences are held at college campuses, exposing the youth to college life and a number of role models from academia, business, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. These events are invaluable to stimulate students to explore career options in a realistic manner and offering them the opportunity to interact with many role models and fellow students from diverse cultural backgrounds.
