2019 Latino Youth Leadership Conference

On Saturday, November 2, Emory will host the Latin American Association’s signature education event, the Latino Youth Leadership Conference. CFDE’s director of engaged learning, Vialla Hartfield-Méndez, is chairing the steering committee for this conference and working to engage Emory faculty and students from across the university.

A fully collaborative effort between Emory faculty, staff, students and LAA staff members, the LYLC will bring approximately 1200 middle- and high-school Latinx students to campus, along with more than 200 parents and teachers and several hundred student and corporate volunteers.  From early morning to late afternoon, the students will participate in a diverse array of activities designed to encourage leadership and pathways to higher education, many of which are designed and will be led by Emory faculty and students.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the LYLC’s founding, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the naming of the Goizueta Business School for a remarkable Latino leader, Roberto Goizueta.  Among the many supporters of this effort are the Goizueta Business School, the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the Woodruff Library, Civic and Community Engagement in Campus Life, the Emory Student Center, the Office of Admissions, faculty and students from the Rollins School of Public Health and the Nell Hodgson School of Nursing, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in Emory College, and numerous student organizations.

Latin American Association staff members have also been involved in the Emory-Buford Highway University-Partner Learning Community (UPLC), a group of Emory faculty, staff and students who meet with community partners in this area on a regular basis, working to create meaningful and mutually beneficial projects together. Co-facilitated and co-sponsored by the Engaged Learning Program in the CFDE and the Community Building and Social Change Fellows Program in Campus Life (under the direction of Kate Grace), the UPLC is designed as a co-learning and co-creative space for community engagement. Emory hosted the LYLC for three years previously (2011-2014) and the return to that role emerged from the learning community conversations. 

If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Vialla Hartfield-Méndez (vhartfi@emory.edu) or Norah Elmagraby (norah.elmagraby@emory.edu).