Nearly 200 Chicano youth from Sonoma County high schools are expected to attend the annual Chicano Indigenous Youth Leadership Conference to be held Saturday, April 28 at Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park.
The theme this year is "Finding Identity Through Self Determination, Resistance to Assimilating and an Understanding of Culture." This year?s conference, to be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., will be campus wide.
There will be a morning welcome and breakfast provided as well as lunch. Poetry reading and dance and theatre groups are slated to perform.
The MEChA (Movimiento Estudiant? Chicano De Aztl?) clubs at SSU and Santa Rosa Junior College are prime organizers of the event whose goal is to teach Chicano youth more about their culture.
Around 125 students attended last year's conference from all around Sonoma County, said Omar Gallardo, SSU MEChA member. This year, the club has also reached out to high schools in Mendocino and Napa County.
Marianna Garcia, conference co-chair, said, "groups of 10 to 15 students will attend talks and workshops throughout the day. Students can choose an educational workshop or a culture workshop to learn more about themselves and their cultures."
The keynote speakers will be Eddie Torres, a professor at California State University, Northridge and Alicia Sanchez, a community organizer in Santa Rosa.
"Some of the students who participated in the conference have gone on to help organize it for future students," said Gallardo. Chicano Latino Studies classes have also been started as a result of the knowledge gained at the conference. This satisfies another of MEChA?s goals ? establishing new educational opportunities for Chicano youth.
The conference began at SSU in 1991.
