Colegio Chicano's First Year!

Dear Friends –

What a year it has been! Mexicanos 2070 launched the Colegio Chicano del Pueblo last year on September 16, 2020, and the response to this program has been OVERWHELMING! Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that so many Chicanos from around the country would join us in the exciting endeavor to bring Chicana/o/x studies to your community.

To date, more than 800 people have signed up for classes at the Colegio. During my Introduction to Chicano Studies class last session, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting dozens of Chicanos from various regions of the country. Truly, our experience contradicts the line pushed by traditional educational institutions that the demand and need for Chicana/o/x studies is not present.

To say that this has been a tremendous learning experience for those of us determined to grow and expand the Colegio would be an understatement. While the majority of those enrolled have not yet taken a class, we are extremely pleased by the response and are determined to bring an expanded curriculum and greater organization to this effort.

As our fourth session for the year comes to an end, the governing board decided in the interest of making this a more seamless process for Colegio students, and in thinking to the future education of our community, to do a number of things:

1. We are suspending the fifth session of the year. We did not make this decision lightly but recognize that because of the overwhelming response we must take some time to examine our administration and internal processes.

2. In January of 2022, we will initiate two certificate programs backed by our partner, Prescott College. These certificate programs will be in Community Organizing and Xicano Studies. We are still working out the details, which will be forthcoming before the beginning of the 2022 school year.

3. We are beginning the process of accreditation to transform our current program into a two-year online community college. This multi-year effort includes building a board of trustees and seeking funding to assemble the technology platform and infrastructure necessary to carry out the functions of an educational institution.

We are doing our best to respond to people who write and have questions. We appreciate your patience with us. The response has been so great and at this point we need staff to help with the demand from students and communities throughout the U.S. That being said, if there are those among you interested in helping with support work for the Colegio I hope you will contact me directly. Higher education experience is not a requirement. A sincere desire to aid your community is the biggest requirement.

La Lucha Sigue,

Ernesto Mireles, MSW, Ph.D.

ernesto.mireles@prescott.edu

Phone: 928.350.2231