Part 4: Amplifying the Voices of Latino Immigrant Youth
The power of partnership, vision, and passion led to the exceptional work that surpassed our expectations. Here is an example of how Juntos partnered with Dr. Lee, who is not part of the Extension system but has a vision that fits with Juntos. Due to this partnership, both Juntos and Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) have leveraged their work to get investors to listen to “w hy Juntos matters. ”
Living in Two Wor lds
My name is Dr. Crystal Chen Lee. Because I am a child of immigrant parents, from Taiwan, diversity, equity and inclusion have been important to me not only as a scholar but as a second-generation Asian American woman. Because of my lived experiences, my teaching and research are centered on how students from marginalized populations can amplify their voices. As an Asian American student growing up in the United States, I never had a K-12 educator that looked like me, nor did I read a book in K-12 schooling that represented my cultural identity. I
spoke one language, English, at school and I spoke a mix of Mandarin Chinese and English at home. I lived in two worlds, and though I loved both worlds, I wondered what it meant to bring my home world into my schooling world.
In January 2018, I was honored to work with Juntos NC students at Garner Magnet High School to discover and write about the two worlds that immigrant students experience. A self-selected group of Juntos 4-H club members joined our LCI writing program, and a beautiful partnership was born. LCI, directed by me and Dr. Jose Picart, is a university-community partnership that examines and empowers youth voices through partnering with youth-serving organizations that serve primarily currently and historically underrepresented groups. The motto for our students is: Write, Engage, and Lead .
“This whole experience writing the book and then going to readings … made me realize that my issues are worth talking about, because it’s not just my issue. It can be an issue for more people, and as long as I can vocalize it, then other people can vocalize it, as well. ”
- Briza (Juntos NC student author)
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