In 1998, four years after California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) was established, the U.S. Department of Education designated the university as an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). This designation followed Congress’ 1992 decision to federally designate and fund HSIs, after a case brought by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
Since then, CSUMB has remained an HSI, regularly receiving federal funding for programs supporting low-income and first-generation students that have helped Chicanx/Latiné students.
Yet, for some CSUMB faculty and staff, they felt there was an opportunity to strengthen the university’s ties as an HSI. In turn, El Centro, the Center for Latiné Student Success was created as a resource for the Chicanx and Latiné community to come together and share a cultural space.
According to the CSUMB website, the university’s enrollment is 46% Latino, yet “we didn’t have a space for us to be in. And so that’s how the conversation started. It always, always goes back to a sense of belonging,” said Betsi Solis, co-director of El Centro.
Since last spring, El Centro has given back to the community, hosting some of CSUMB’s largest cultural events, such as the Intergenerational CSUMB Founding Faculty event, which celebrated various faculty that have helped reinforce the university’s mission as an HSI.
Located in room 125 of building 12, their hub is decorated with flags from across the Hispanic and Latiné world. They regularly host and offer free financial literacy workshops and academic tutoring to those who may need it.
For Solis, as a CSUMB alumna, El Centro is a labor of love. When she attended the university, she initially struggled to adapt to the community and she believes a program like El Centro would have greatly benefited her.
“As Latinos, we often experience impostor syndrome in higher education. We’re always talking about not knowing if we should be here. There’s also that question of, ‘Can I do this and how do I move forward? How do I get more and how do I get there?’ It’s having this community that will support each other to pull ourselves up,” shared Solis.
Last month, El Centro launched Mariposa Mentorship, a program aimed at supporting Latiné students by partnering them with faculty mentors. So far, about 40 students have signed up for the program.
El Centro’s stated mission to inspire and uplift the Chicanx and Latiné community is carried out by student coordinators.
Lara Arias, a first-year El Centro student coordinator, was born and raised in Panama and came to the United States to pursue her undergraduate degree. When she arrived, she sought one thing she longed for: community. Through El Centro, she said she was able to find it and give back.
“Coming to the U.S. and starting from zero, it was good to have a place to be, especially where other people speak Spanish and have similar cultures,” said Arias. “I had a place to be at. It was definitely good, especially coming from another place, feeling like I belonged, and El Centro definitely gave that to me – also a job, which is good.”
As a Monterey native, Gerson Orellana Prudencio, El Centro’s diversity outreach and advocacy student coordinator, “always had the intention of giving back to the community that I grew up in … I love this community, this is my hometown, this is where my family grew up,” said Orellana. “I just want to make an impact and give back to my community.”
El Centro hopes to become an institutionalized program on campus, which would mean guaranteed future funding for the program. With El Centro continuing work to create and take advantage of opportunities for the Chicanx and Latiné CSUMB community, the ultimate goal for them is to follow in the footsteps of other HSIs that offer courses in Spanish.
“If El Centro can drive that change to our campus where we have courses offered in Spanish, I think we hit the goal of actually serving our Latino community,” said Solis. “As we say we want to elevate Latinos, how can we do that if we don’t offer things in their language?”
“I want to leave behind a proud Latino community here at CSUMB that are just proud to be Latino, feeling like they have a sense of belonging knowing they can achieve anything they put their mind to,” said Arias.
For more information on El Centro and the free resources they offer, students can find them on Instagram @elcentro_csumb.