ISLAS 2013 is made possible by the CUNY Institute for Mexican Studies, headquartered at Lehman College, in collaboration with the Afro Latin@ Forum, the Tertulia Resolana: High School ~ College ~ Community Collaborative, the New York Collective of Radical Educators, and the Movement Makers program at Essex Street Academy.

CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies                                                                                   http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/cuny-mexican-studies-institute/index.php

The CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies, based at Lehman College, is the culmination of nearly a decade of work by faculty, administrators, staff, and students to boost enrollment of Mexican and Mexican-American students, foster research with and about Mexico and Mexican in the United States, and collaborate with community-based organizations to support and empower the Mexican immigrant community.  With a special focus on Mexicans in the diaspora, especially with Mexicans in New York, the Institute offers a space for the Mexican community to consider its own and an institutional innovation for support of scholarly and community advocacy projects.  Fundamental to the Institute’s foundation and success will be its ability to further new projects with community and cultural organizations, to channel projects already underway and to build on existing efforts within and outside of CUNY.

Tertulia Resolana High School~College~Community Collaborative                            tertulia.commons.gc.cuny.edu

Tertulia Resolana High School~College~Community~Collaborative is an interdisciplinary, standards-based introductory course on Latin American and Latino Studies for high school students and is facilitated by pairs of advanced CUNY two-year and four-year college enrolled students. The Tertulia Resolana began in Phoenix, Arizona, serving five high schools and linking Arizona State and Maricopa Community College students from 2002-2006.   In 2012, the Tertulia Resolana began outreach with the support of the CUNY Institute for Mexican Studies, building partnerships with schools and institutions, and piloting the program with Belmont Preparatory High School in the Bronx, New York.

Afro Latin@ Forum                                                                            http://www.afrolatinoforum.org/

The afrolatin@ forum raises awareness of Latin@s of African descent in the United States. We advance the visibility of Black Latin@s through dialogue and action and promote an understanding of the afrolatin@ experience. The emphasis is guided by a transnational perspective that recognizes the centrality of race in today’s global reality and the struggle for social justice.

New York Collective of Radical Educators                                                                    http://www.nycore.org

New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE) is a group of public school educators committed to fighting for social justice in our school system and society at large, by organizing and mobilizing teachers, developing curriculum, and working with community, parent, and student organizations. We are educators who believe that education is an integral part of social change and that we must work both inside and outside the classroom because the struggle for justice does not end when the school bell rings.

Movement Makers                                                                                    http://mexnthecity.com/mexdroops/movementMakers

Mex and the City’s Movement Makers Program at Essex Street Academy is a high school pilot program. The focus is to teach advocacy and agency through ethnic studies and Latin American literature. Issues of identity are distilled through oral presentations and group discussions around race, class, and immigration. Class curriculum and assignments are further developed through new media to promote independent voices by way of blog content, photo essays, and video campaigns.

Latin American and Latino Studies Program, Queens College  http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Academics/Degrees/DSS/LatinoStudies/Pages/default.aspx

The Latin American and Latino Studies Program offers a major and a minor concentration in Latin American Area Studies and Latino Studies. The program gives students the opportunity to study a full range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding Latin America and the Caribbean, and the movements and settlement of the peoples and cultures of these regions in the United States. It is a program that combines Latin American studies, Puerto Rican, and Latino ethnic studies.