Cumbre Familiar Latina 2024 invites the Latino community to learn about education without limits

The high school graduation rate in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was 84% for the academic year 2022-2023, compared to 79.1% for 2018-2019. While the 4.9% increase sounds like a positive increase, it doesn't reflect the data of all the districts. The California Department of Education showed that Latinos graduating from high schools in California comprised 80% in 2020-2021. This is a 2% decrease compared to 82% in 2019-2020.

In an effort to increase the number of high school graduates, advocates highlight the importance of including parents in the education of their children from an early age. For this reason, the Parent Organization Network (PON) is organizing its second annual Cumbre Familiar Latina 2024 at Pomona College in Claremont on Saturday, September 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

PON is a non-profit comprising 14 organizations. Its mission is to connect, empower and mobilize parents and parent organizations across the greater Los Angeles area to improve the quality of education for students. 

The event is annually held during Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate Latino culture in Spanish and present workshops that develop parents' awareness.

Araceli Simeón, executive director of PON, said the one-day event will provide informational workshops and educational tools to continue supporting students' learning at home while teaching parents how to partner with teachers at schools. The event will be entirely in Spanish with English subtitles. 

Workshops available for all ages

Simeon said there will be workshops focused on the students' ages. One will focus on supporting parents with children ages 0-5. They will not only learn how to access early education but they will also be able to recognize if their children show some developmental delays.

"By learning how to identify these delays, parents can receive the necessary tools to enroll their children in early education support," said Simeón. "This can allow them to be ready when they start in the school system of K-12."

Nancy Villareal, a board member of PON and Los Angeles Educational Partnership, said the information provided here is vital, mainly for parents who don't speak English and don't know how to navigate the educational system.

Villareal, who has an adult son with learning disabilities, said she regrets not accepting services when she started recognizing certain delays when he was a child.  

"I was afraid of the stigma, and as a single parent, I didn't know how to get help," she said. "I was a new immigrant and I was afraid because I didn't speak English."

With time, she learned the importance of being involved in children's education, whether in English or with the help of a translator. She said parents are the voice of better futures and to debunk the myth that children with disabilities don’t have opportunities for the future. 

Villareal will be sharing her journey during the panel on how to support families with children with disabilities. 

Another workshop will focus on supporting parents with elementary school children so they can learn to monitor learning beyond report cards. 

"Most of our parents rely on report cards to determine if their children are on grade level, and so they're going to be focusing more around math and literacy [and] how to monitor in middle school," said Simeon. 

However, she explained that it is equally important to focus on the required classes in post-secondary education and the requirements to go to college and receive financial aid. 

There will be two additional workshops about leadership development. One will focus on developing networks and where to continue to build parents' capacity to support their children in their schools. 

The other will be focused on supporting parents around issues of mental health. Simeón said that post-pandemic, everyone needs more support in general. 

"Some of the strategies offered are more around how to cope with stress and how to reach out to other parent support groups so they can rely on a broader network to get their families on a good footing,” she said.

Scholarship opportunities for students

The event will also feature workshops specifically for teenagers. These will be held in English with Spanish subtitles. To make things more exciting, four academic scholarships of $500 will be rewarded to students ages 13 through18 who attend the workshops. They can use the money to support their education in any way they need. 

"They can save the money for college or use it for senior year to receive support with tutoring or extracurricular activities," said Simeón.

Villareal said this is a great incentive to motivate students to participate in the workshops. Even if they don't get the scholarship, they will receive vital information that will help them learn how to access higher education.

"We follow the phrase of Dolores Huerta, 'si se puede' to encourage families to stay involved," said Villareal. 

Simeon said they want to send a clear message to the Latino community that education is without limits. It doesn't matter if parents don't know how to navigate the system, if the student doesn't have money for college or if families have a student with disabilities. At the event, they will find resources for each one of their needs. 

Cumbre Familiart is expected to have more than 150 participants. Simeón said the attendees will come from different areas and school districts, including Lynwood, Norwalk, La Mirada, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona and many other cities.

It is recommended to register ahead of time. There will be childcare available, and complimentary continental breakfast and lunch with mariachi to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

The event will be at the Smith Campus Center Edmund's Ballroom at Pomona College, 170 E. Sixth St., Claremont, CA 91711.

To register for the event, see the following links:

Registration form in English:https://tinyurl.com/bpe2b2wx

Registration form in Spanish:https://tinyurl.com/43zha3j5

Registration form for youth:https://tinyurl.com/mrxwnu4v