Back in 2008 the down economy had me squeaking by, dabbling in some graphic design stuff and just hanging out. I had heard about AmeriCorps back in the day but mostly had forgotten about it. The grapevine informed me there were some positions available, one at a certain “El Centro de las Américas”. Here I am nearly two years later, rocking the Education and Technology Program Coordinator position. And guess what? The turnover for our current AmeriCorps volunteers is September, so tell your bilingual friends that there will be one full-time position and two part-time positions opening up and they should apply with Deb Buckman over at the F Street Community Center. You can go as far as the ganas take you.

El Centro de las Américas cordially invites you to the graduation ceremony for the Golden Warriors: Latino Youth Development and Prevention Program on Saturday July 17th, 2010. The ceremony will start at eleven in the morning with celebration immediately following.

Location: El Centro de las Américas Multi-Purpose Room

2032 U Street, Lincoln, Nebraska

“We are the sun’s children, and our nature is to shine.”

~Toltec message

It is here! We rode to Sheldon for the official kick-off.

I’ve created a blog, latinobiketour.blogspot.com, to report all activity on the Tour, so check in frequently both here and there for updates. Two rides a week for the next two months!

Thank you to Lancaster County Health Department, Community Health Endowment, riders, future riders, and all the stops along the way.

(photo by: GWYNETH ROBERTS - Lincoln Journal Star)

Thank you to those in attendance and those lending assistance for the GED program and graduation ceremony last Saturday. We are ever grateful to Gloria Sarmiento, Maria Fernanda Joya, et al, for the program leadership, and to Wesleyan University and Tesia Risk for realizing need and recognizing accomplishment.

Further reading: Lincoln Journal Star

Please check out our newsletter from the link below, especially if you want to brush up on your español.

READ NEWSLETTER

¡Gracias!

55 students from 10 communities graduate Saturday — including 30 from El Centro de Las Américas

Fifty-five students from Lincoln, Hastings, Wayne, Wakefield, West Point, Fremont, Schuyler, Crete, Norfolk and Lexington will gather at Nebraska Wesleyan’s O’Donnell Auditorium on Saturday, June 26 at 3 pm to celebrate graduation from the GED (General Education Development) program.  The group will include 30 students from the program coordinated by Lincoln’s El Centro de las Américas.

The ceremony will celebrate the dedication of the adult student graduates, some of whom work, have families and children and drive up to three hours to get to the classes.  Since the successful GED in Spanish program began, many students have gone on to higher education degrees. El Centro de las Américas will also award three scholarships at the ceremony to its top students to help them further their education.

The O’Donnell Auditorium in the Vance D. Rogers Center for Fine Arts at Nebraska Wesleyan University is located on the north side of Huntington Street between 50th and 51st Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. In attendance will be GED students, family and administration of El Centro de las Américas, and Nebraska Wesleyan University.

For the past seventeen years, Lincoln Public Schools have recognized triumphant students and outstanding collaborating agencies (GED en Español graduates and El Centro de las Américas to name a few) in ceremonies for different minority groups. We are honored to host the Latino ceremony here in the Malone Center gymnasium from 4-6pm this Saturday. Present will be food and drink, faculty and admin, students and parents, and the community at large to celebrate the year’s accomplishments, like high school graduation, graduation with honors, special programs completion (like our family literacy programs), and many others.

En los ultimos diecisiete años, las Escuelas Publicas de Lincoln han reconocido a estudiantes triunfantes y agencias colaboradoras incomparables (graduados del GED en Español y El Centro de las Américas para dar algunos ejemplos) en ceremonias para distintos grupos minorías. Somos agradecidos de presentar la ceremonia latina en el gimnasio del Centro Malone de 4 a 6 de la tarde este sábado. Habrán comida y bebida, facultad y administración, estudiantes y padres, y la comunidad para celebrar los exitos del año, como graduación del high school, mención honorifica, terminación de programas especiales (como nuestra Alfabetización Familiar), y muchos más.

As noted in the prior post, we celebrated the last days of our most recent Family Literacy sessions. Thanks again to Karen at Lincoln Literacy Council for the great shots of the W Lincoln potluck. Check out the entire album!

This week has been nothing short of thrilling. Under the original auspice of LPS’ last day of school being today (had there not been those snow days), this week marked the final sessions for Everett Literacy, West Lincoln Literacy and Migrant Ed Literacy. Pot lucks, certificates, and celebration — plus two lucky students were donated computers for home use.

I’ve got a few photos up and will soon have more.

Beyond that, today we received news of two grants coming in! Thank you United Way and Community Health Endowment for looking our way and recognizing our commitment to the population we serve. The latter agency is funding a new summer program designed by yours truly called Latino Bike Tour which will promote health, community integration, and local business economy — all from bike rides!

Entonces, next week I’m fuera de la oficina for a quick break between program seasons, and will soon be back to grind the summer axe.

All are invited to this national event combining workshops, planning groups, assemblies, art shows, etc. to clarify objectives and build movements for social change. This year it will be in the Forum-dubbed “Solution City”, better known as Detroit.

Detroit is in an interesting position to reclaim itself post-collapse, making it an appropriate host for a grassroots event looking to toss around ideas for improving “the system”. There is a caravan going from Lincoln, so read up the website and perhaps you will consider joining them.