_________________________________________
May 5, 2020 Board of Trustees Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA
Dear Members of the Board,
I write as director of CWU’s Latino and Latin American Studies program to share our thoughts and concerns regarding a recent decision to discontinue CWU’s residency lease with the APOYO food bank. APOYO provides a significant number of central Washington residents, especially those of Latinx descent, with critical food and other resources, and it also serves as a valuable link between the CWU campus and our local Latinx community. For over 20 years, CWU has generously supported these services by providing space to carry out APOYO’s mission, first in the old hospital on 3 rd Avenue, then in the Old Heating Plant, and more recently in the Brooklane Storage House. We greatly appreciate the vison and generosity demonstrated by our administration in supporting the APOYO food bank for over 20 years. As program and affiliate faculty in El Centro Latinx: for Latino and Latin American Studies, we feel it important to share with you some of the perhaps unforeseen and unintended consequences of the decision to discontinue the lease, which will likely force APOYO to shut down operations without another suitable location being offered. Moreover, in recent reports of the decision to discontinue APOYO’s lease with CWU, the significant benefits that CWU has received from its partnership with APOYO have not been fully recognized. Those benefits directly and strongly affect the mission of our Latino and Latin American Studies program and our university; therefore, we feel it is important to outline them here. 1) APOYO provides valuable service opportunities to CWU students. The Latino and Latin American Studies program has long relied on its relationship with APOYO as an opportunity for our students to serve and connect with our local community. Many of our students have earned credit from internships and independent study with APOYO over the years. In addition, many CWU students, beyond our program, have volunteered at APOYO through MEChA, Casa Latina and the Chavez/King center for community engagement (to name a few). Student volunteer numbers were down this past fall, but in no way does this dip indicate that CWU students are no longer volunteering. Volunteer time sheet records from last year (2018-2019) show that CWU students accumulated over 150 work hours. APOYO remains an important opportunity for our students to engage with our local Latinx community. 2) APOYO helps build a sense of community within our Latinx student population . Many CWU students served by our relationship with APOYO are Latinx, many of whom are bilingual. As you know, this a growing segment of our student body (now at 18%) that is disproportionately vulnerable to attrition. By providing the opportunity to meet and help local families who share their culture, we feel that APOYO has helped us to retain Latinx students who might otherwise decide they do not belong here. This, in turn, helps CWU fulfill its mission of increasing diversity on our campus. Those of us who have spent time at the APOYO food bank have watched this. Since the inception of our program in 2008, APOYO has been a crucial way for students in our minor to serve our local Latinx population and develop a sense of community. In his State of the University Address last fall, President Gaudino’s number one goal for CWU is to “increase the first-year to second-year student retention rate from 71 percent to 80 percent over the next five years. To do this we must find new ways to create and sustain an environment where our students feel welcome and are supported by the institution and want to return to complete their degree programs and graduate.” Relationships such as the one we have with APOYO help us in this goal. 3) By bringing members of an underrepresented group physically to campus and demonstrating CWU’s commitment to them, APOYO builds bonds of trust among community members that are priceless . APOYO gives CWU a rare opportunity to engage with some of the most vulnerable members of our local community. These partnerships are very difficult to develop, and they are fragile. CWU’s relationship with
El Centro Latinx: for Latino and Latin American Studies, 400 E. University Way • Ellensburg, WA 98926 EEO/AA/TITLE IX INSTITUTION • TTD 509.963-3323
Made with FlippingBook Publishing Software