INVITATION: Press Conference & Healing ceremony Honoring the victims & survivors in Uvalde-—9AM Sun., June 5, 2022

        OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Friends:

We are convening a press conference and healing ceremony in order to both honor the victims and survivors in Uvalde and to promote our own healing with our children, parents, Austin community, and nation.

It takes place in person this Sunday at 9 AM CST in the zócalo at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center (ESB-MACC) located at 600 River St. in Austin, TX 78701.

Please drop by if you happen to be in the area.

The event begins with a press conference at 9 AM CST, followed by Danza Mexica (Aztec dance) ceremony beginning at 10 AM CST and concluding around 12:00 PM CST. 

Attached are downloadable media advisories (English and (Spanish) press releases (English and Spanish) on the Healing Ceremony itself. The community is welcome to both—the 9AM press conference and the 10AM ceremony both of which are taking place at the same location.

If you can't make it in person, no worries. You can attend virtually.

Beginning at 9AM, our press conference and ceremony will be live-streamed on at least 3 Facebook pages as follows: the Academia Cuauhtli Facebook page, the HABLA (Hispanic Advocates Business Leaders of Austin), as well as on the National LULAC Facebook page.

If you cannot make it to Austin, do invite your children and grandchildren, in particular, to join us virtually at 10 AM when Danza begins. The adults can join us earlier at 9 AM for our live-streamed press conference. This will give you a chance to hear what is on the hearts and minds of key Texas leaders and members of our community.

Please like Academia Cuauhtli on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcademiaCuauhtli/

Feel free to share widely.

Peace/paz,

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Convener
Nuestro Grupo/Academia Cuauhtli

Emilio Zamora, Ph.D., Member

Nuestro Grupo/Academia Cuauhtli

#RememberUziyah #UvaldeStrong #WeAreAllWestTexas #Uvalde #RobbElementary #uvaldetexas #UvaldeStrong

@LULAC

#AbbottFailedTexasAgain #EndGunViolenceNow #txed #Texas

"La Mujer 2021" happening this week, beginning today (April 21-24)

Friends, 

Featuring our own Martha P. Cotera and many others, check out "La Mujer,
2021," consisting of free live streamed events (film, music, dance, and theater) this week beginning today (April 21-24) by the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Culture Center.

All streaming takes place at www.LaMujerATX.net

​

-Angela Valenzuela

#mujerespoderosas

Platforms of Power: Shaping the U.S. Latino Narrative | 2020 In Focus: Election, Census, and the Latino Community

THIS LOOKS BOTH TIMELY AND EXCITING. GO TO LINK TO REGISTER.

-Angela

Join the Friends of the American Latino Museum for a weekend of conversations about diverse storytelling, creating inclusivity, and the watershed year 2020 promises to be. And each night, we will bring our friends together for a celebration of the work done and the work yet to come.

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Where: Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center
600 River St.  • Austin, TX

When: March 13 – 14, 2020 

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With the support and partnership of NBC Universal Telemundo and the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative, we are excited to bring this space to SXSW.

Be sure to register below and check back here regularly for updates on our schedule and ways to get involved. We can’t wait to see you in Austin!

We are grateful to be joined in Austin with our friends, supporters, and leaders from across the entertainment and advocacy space. 

GET FREE GENERAL ADMISSIONS TICKETS HERE.

A conversation featuring Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) and Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Ivette Rodriguez of LA Collab; Ruben Garcia of Creative Artists Agency; Sonja Diaz of UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative; moderated by Julio Ricardo Varela of Futuro Media.

The American Latino experience has been largely left out of conversations in history, media, politics, and entertainment. This exclusion leads to ignorance around the contributions of Latinos across industries, giving rise to stereotypes and misunderstandings. As the Latino community continues to grow, xenophobia and misinformed rhetoric regarding Latinos have taken a serious toll on our community and the nation—in some instances, even putting lives in danger.

But over the last decade or more, there has been a concerted effort on all fronts to push back and regain control of the narrative by Latinos and Latinas in media, politics, and business. With more Latinos than ever in government, behind the camera, and giving voice to our community’s stories, we have an opportunity to seize and shape the conversation around the diversity of our history and our present day America. How can today’s various platforms find synergy to create inclusivity for Latinos while tackling ignorance and hate? And how can we use our platforms of power to create a more positive narrative around our community?

GET FREE GENERAL ADMISSIONS TICKETS HERE.

A powerful conversation featuring Congressman Will Hurd (TX-23); Dr. Matt Barreto, UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Initiative; and Julie Rodriguez, DNC Platform Committee; moderated by Vanessa Hauc, Noticias Telemundo.

For the first time in history, Latinos are the largest minority group of potential voters in the United States. In the 2020 election, a record 32 million Latino Americans will be eligible to vote. But far from being a uniform voting bloc, the Latino community in the US is incredibly diverse demographically, culturally, and ideologically. Engaging and mobilizing Latino voters has been a priority for campaigns and interest groups as Latinos make up an increasingly larger segment of the US population. But authenticity is key—are activists and candidates doing a better job of speaking to the concerns and interests of Latinos? What gaps still remain?

In the wake of Super Tuesday, join us for a conversation about the watershed year 2020 promises to be, and the role of the Latino community.

Fundraiser and Performance by Luis Adrián, Mexico's Great Tenor, Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Culture Center,Sat. Jan. 25, 2020 at 6:30PM

Students, Friends, and Colleagues:

The National Latina/o Education Research and Policy Project (NLERAPP; pronounced nel-rap") in conjunction with el Consul General Mexicano de Austin/Mexican Consulate General of Austin is pleased to invite you to this fundraiser performance of one of Mexico's top tenors, Luis Adrián Cruz, accompanied by el Cuarteto Xquenda from Oaxaca, Mexico.

Hear him sing 'O Sole Mío here:  Luis Adrian Cruz La voz México 2017.

The event takes place in the Zocalo at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, 600 River, Austin, Texas in downtown Austin.

This is going to be a fun party!  See you there!

-Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D., Executive Director

NLERAPP

Academia Cuauhtli [Eagle Academy], Austin, Texas, Recruitment Video 2019

Credit: Maria Unda, Academia Cuauhtli volunteer and NLERAP Fellow

Friends,

I am happy to share our 2019 recruitment video for Academia Cuauhtli in Austin, Texas. Academia Cuauhtli is a Saturday School physically located at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Culture Center (ESB-MACC) in Austin, Texas. “Cuauhtli” means “eagle” in Nahuatl [a Uto-Aztecan language] so our name means “Eagle Academy.” Founded during the 2013-14 school year, we are now entering our sixth year of operation. We are not a charter school; we are a formal-legal partnership, involving the Austin Independent School District (AISD), the City of Austin's ESB-MACC, and our community-based organization (CBO) named Nuestro Grupo. We serve fourth-grade children from five East Austin schools, namely, Sanchez, Metz, Zavala, Houston, and Perez Elementary.*

Additional core partners are the Austin Area Association for Bilingual Education and the Indigenous Cultures Institute in San Marcos, Texas.

Nuestro Grupo was formed after a September 20, 2013 meeting at the ESB-MACC to discuss literacy in East Austin. The ESB-MACC is located near our participating East Austin schools, and their eagerness to support us emanates from their desire to serve this same community. Nuestro Grupo is comprised of student volunteers, faculty from UT-Austin and Texas State University, community elders, parents, and AISD bilingual education teachers.

An amazing detail is that this work has resulted in pathways for undergraduates to graduate school, and from masters students to the doctoral program Since we began our work in the community—where we hold weekly meetings at the ESB-MACC—we have created pathways for at least 13 students into the masters and doctoral programs at UT in Educational Leadership and Policy, as well as into the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Hence, in addition to providing an enrichment opportunity for children, we are growing our own critically conscious, community-based, social justice-oriented, masters and doctoral students.
To the best of our knowledge, we are the only Ethnic Studies program at the elementary grade level in the state of Texas and one of only a few nationwide. The number gets smaller when taking into account that we also offer a curriculum in Spanish. We see ourselves as a culture and language revitalization project where we nurture a Spanish-speaking, Indigenous identity, and civil rights consciousness. Our curriculum is further place-based, social justice oriented, community-centered, and parent-engaged.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AcademiaCuauhtli/



-Angela Valenzuela, Co-Founder and Convener
Academia Cuauhtli

*Parts of this piece draw from a Tuesday, September 17, 2019 interview with me conducted by Kevin Welner and Holly Yettick of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) in a piece titled, "The Saturday School Where Mexican American Children Learn About their Heritage: A Q & A with NEPC Fellow Angela Valenzuela." also posted to this blog.

Dr. Angela Valenzuela and Growing Our Own Educators Movement featured in La Voz, Alfredo Santos, Editor

So happy to share with you this news story titled, "Dr. Angela Valenzuela and Growing Your Own Educators Movement" written by Alfredo Santos, publisher and editor of La Voz, a local newspaper that you can also find online.  You can read the entire January/February 2018 issue here.

In this issue, he features our work here in Austin, Texas, in partnership with the Austin Independent School District  and the City of Austin's Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center  (ESB-MACC) to carry out activities and instruction for fourth and fifth graders at Academia Cuauhtli, physically located on the grounds of the ESB-MACC.  Our participants emanate from Sanchez, Metz, Zavala, Houston, and Perez Elementary Schools. 

I like how he contextualizes our Grow Your Own (GYO) Educator program.  It's what many communities before us have done and are doing right now.  

This is a movement that is about people and connection.  It's about revitalizing our languages, cultures, and identities and being able to navigate fluidly in the messiness and richness of cultural and linguistic borders and frontiers.  It's about roots and rootedness, and empowering communities by creating formal structures that reinforce informal ones that promote sustainability for a great cause.  It is about working together on one of the most sacred things that we could possibly imagine doing as a society, namely, the education our young.

You can read either my literature review or literature review summary on GYO educators here published by the Intercultural Development Research Association out of San Antonio.  And do check out Santos' other issues of La Voz to learn more about the Mexican American community that he so dutifully and selflessly covers here in Austin, Texas.  Gracias, Santos!

Enjoy!

Angela Valenzuela

c/s