NACCS Scholar
Rosaura Sánchez. University of California, San Diego.
Book Award
Ylce Irizarry. Chicana/o and Latina/o Fiction: The New Memory of Latinidad. University of Illinois Press, 2016.
Antonia I. Castañeda Prize
Dr. Marisa Elena Duarte is an assistant professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University where she teaches courses in Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies, Digital Activism, and Cross-Cultural Leadership. Dr. Duarte is also author of Network Sovereignty: Building the Internet Across Indian Country (University of Washington, 2017). “Uneven Exchanges: Borderlands Violence and the Search for Peace at Sand Creek,” was published in Chicana Latina Studies 16. No. 1.
Frederick A. Cervantes Student Premio Recipients
Santos F. Ramos. Michigan State University. Graduate. “Community-Making through Pedagogy, Relationality and Mexican Cooking.”
Community Recognition
Ramona Arreguin is a well-known and respected community leader in Minnesota. She has tirelessly dedicated over 45 years advocating for the Chicano/Latino community. Her work to establish numerous local organizations has provided countless opportunities for the Latino population. Some of these organizations include: University of MN Department of Chicano Studies, Latin Liberation Front (Student Organization at the U of MN), Centro Cultural Chicano, La Clinica, Migrants in Action, Hispanic Pre College Program at the University of St. Thomas, and Academia Cesar Chavez. Ramona has been politically active both locally and nationally. She has worked on critical Latino community issues such as migrants and collaborated with MN Representative Carlos Mariani to shape the MN “Learning for English Academic Proficiency and Success” (LEAPS) Act. She worked with Former First Lady Hillary Clinton on a White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. She has crafted strong ties with the Mexican government in MN. She is recognized both nationally and internationally for her work and contributions in the Chicano/Latino and is frequently sought out for consultation.
UNIDOS MN, formerly Navigate MN, is a grassroots organization that builds power with the Latinx community in Minnesota. Our theory of change centers the reality of undocumented and mixed status families in our search for immigration, health, and education justice. Our work is centered on people power, civic engagement and leadership development. We envision an empowered and healthy Minnesotano community that is part of the solution to create a prosperous Minnesota for all, regardless of race, class, gender and immigration status. Through the 10 years of work, Navigate/Unidos MN has been led by undocumented/DACAmented, and queer Latinxs providing an intersectional and strategic reality of authenticity and accountable to the population we build solutions with. Born out of the DREAMer movement, Unidos MN seeks to strategically prioritize these gaps of access through community organizing for system change. While these issues seem broad, Navigate has develop municipal, state and national strategies to make sure paths towards prosperity are being built from different angles and has built the ability to adapt to different political terrains. We have led and won local campaigns for tuition equity that are now policies in private and state colleges. Additionally, we have been a key leader making sure pro-immigrant, pro-education and anti-poverty initiatives like the MN Dream Act and MNSure Access for DACA holders were passed and implemented. We are also key Minnesota players in the national arena for DACA, Immigration Reform Efforts and the DREAM Act.