Serving over 600 Latina/x youth this year, our Chicas Program continues to expand. See the highlights!
As we bring the program year to an end, the Chicas team reflects on these past eight months and all that we’ve achieved with our participants. A year of hurdles and challenges, as well as learning, laughter, and fundamental growth.
During the 2021-2022 school year, the Chicas Program Youth Development Program was active at 27 schools throughout Washington County and served over 600 Latina/x youth from elementary school through college. Though we wish we could have been physically present at all of our schools, Chicas adapted to become a hybrid program where our facilitators were physically present at some schools, and offered virtual programming at others.
Enjoying pizza, crafts, and friendship at this year’s end-of-year celebration
Workshops and Field Trips
Our wonderful Chicas facilitators led 15 field trips and worked with community partners such as Financial Beginnings, THPRD, Metro, Portland Audubon, Westside Quilters Guild, and the Portland Thorns, to bring quality, enriching activities and opportunities for our participants and their families.
Graduating High School Seniors
We were also delighted to see a total of 36 chicas graduated high school this year, of which 31 will go on to attend college to pursue a diverse range of careers and areas of study.
Some of the graduating high school seniors at the celebration
Chicas In College
This year, our Chicas in College Initiative expanded, serving 46 Latina/x college women in 9 different colleges and universities throughout the state of Oregon. We also saw our first two Chicas in College Interns support the Initiative by organizing and leading college meetings every term, providing guidance to high school seniors, sharing resources with their college peers, and planning our first ever Chicas in College in-person meet-up at the end of June!
The Chicas Emergency Grant launched in the fall of 2021 and has since supported 17 Chicas to cover expenses while in college such as tuition, school supplies, textbooks, housing, bills, food, and transportation. Of this year’s graduating chicas, 30 have already committed to continuing their participation in the program through Chicas in College. Our amazing College and Career Coordinator, Itzel Chavez Gomez, will surely continue the imperative work of providing support and guidance towards success for our chicas as they transition onto the next phase of their lives.
We are so grateful to generous donors who make the internships and emergency grants possible!
End-of-Year Celebrations
In the meantime, the Chicas Program honored the accomplishments of our graduating seniors with an evening of celebration for them and their families, where our Executive Director, Bridget Cooke, closed the evening with a speech highlighting this year's graduating class as a prime example of Latina leadership given how far they have made it despite the interruption in their high school education due to COVID.
And finally, to bring the programming year to an official close, the Chicas Program threw an end of year celebration for our more than deserving participants. 80 of them were in attendance and we had a blast!
Next Up: Chicas Summer Camps!
Currently, the Chicas team continues to be busy as we gear up for our summer programming. This July, the program will host a total of four summer camps, one which is completely new and will focus on getting our participants out in nature to learn about the environment. Plus, we finally get to bring back our Soccer Academy after two years of hiatus due to the pandemic. The team is excited and eager to bring these awesome camps for our chicas and the community!
Upcoming Summer Camps:
Incoming 3rd-7th:
Exprésate (July 11-15) - Application in English / Application in Spanish
Descubriendo STEM (July 18-22) - Application in English / Application in Spanish
Soccer Academy ( August 2 - 25, Tournament August 27) - Application in English / Application in Spanish
Incoming 8th-9th:
Youth Leadership Camp (July 11-15) - Application in English / Application in Spanish
Incoming 10th-12th:
Experiencia Ecológica (July 18-22) - Application in English / Application in Spanish
Angela Valenzuela is a guest blogger and the Chicas STEAM Coordinator at Adelante Mujeres. She is originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, and grew up in north Portland. She graduated in 2016 from Washington State University Vancouver with a B.A. in Humanities with a Primary Focus in English and Secondary Focus in Sociology, as well as with a Minor in Spanish.
Our Chicas Youth Development Program is supported by people like you. If you’d like to support Chicas, click here to invest.