Message From our Co-Presidents
Dear HLAA Family,
In the past weeks, our entire way of life has been disrupted by a global pandemic that has threatened our family members & friends, our health care system, and our economy. While our essential community members are heroically doing their part in hospitals, grocery stores, and factories, we are all doing our best to protect the ones we love and stay home to "flatten the curve".
During this time of crisis, there is a heightened responsibility to serve our community. Our commitment to provide opportunities for personal and professional development, community engagement, and networking remain top of mind. To this end, our volunteer board has been working tirelessly to identify ways to leverage the tools at our disposal to continue living out the HLAA mission.
How are we doing that?
Our first order of business is to help keep our community safe. To that end, all HLAA events have been moved to virtual settings and we are focusing resources on the development of virtual webinars and meetups.
How You Can Help: Share your skills, talents and experiences with our community by volunteering to host a webinar or virtual happy hour. Email a short bio and a brief description of the content to harvardlatinoalum@gmail.com. HLAA will handle the logistics and promote the event with our community.
Second, we have paused 2020 Latinx Reunion planning and fundraising to address the immediate needs of our most vulnerable Latinx students. Our students face uncertain prospects for summer internships, some lack access to safe housing, and others are unable to pay for necessary medications. While we encourage students to seek Harvard‘s COVID-19 aid first, we have also established an HLAA Emergency Fund to cover critical costs that are not covered by the University.
How You Can Help: Contribute to the HLAA Emergency Fund and/or help us spread the word.
Finally, while social distancing separates us physically, technology and social media have the power to bring us closer together than ever before. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and/or Twitter to ensure you’re informed of opportunities including connecting with your local chapter, reunion updates and virtual events.
How You Can Help: Like, Comment and Share our social media posts. Share articles, tips and tricks and shoutouts of your own. And don’t be shy about telling us what you’d like to see more or less of.
Saint Oscar Romero of El Salvador once shared with his community that: "Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution of all to the good of all. Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. It is right and it is duty." In that spirit, HLAA will continue to try and share as much peace as we are able with as many of you as we can.
With love and appreciation for all of you,
Adan Acevedo (AB ‘13) & Shirley Cardona (AB ‘06, MBA ‘12)
JOIN THE HLAA!
Alumni followers and newsletter readers: please consider becoming contributing HLAA members today! Your membership support will help us plan alumni networking events, fund more Latino student programming, and advocate for more Latino faculty and Latino alumni leadership at Harvard University. To become a Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance member, please visit harvardlatinoalumni.org.
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NATIONAL BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: FERNANDO CASAS
Fernando Espino Casas
AB ‘15, Leverett House
National Board Member, Communications
Fernando studied Social Studies, focusing on Economics and Government, at Harvard College, graduating magna cum laude in 2015. While at Harvard, Fernando was a president of the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team, a research director for the Harbus (HBS newspaper), a peer advising fellow (PAF), and a member of RAZA and Act on a Dream. Since graduating, Fernando has been heavily involved in alumni groups, including the Harvard Clubs of Wisconsin, Chicago, and Silicon Valley. In addition to serving as a HLAA national board member, Fernando volunteers at local nonprofits that seek to empower underrepresented minority HS students to pursue educational paths and careers in tech. Fernando was born in the outskirts of Mexico City, but grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He currently works in the San Francisco Bay Area as a senior product researcher for SurveyMonkey, the global survey development company, and is currently finalizing his decision on which MBA program to attend this Fall. In his spare time, Fernando loves to explore the outdoors hiking and camping, social dancing, watching Netflix and HBO, and catching up with friends.
CALL TO ACTION: HARVARD ADMISSIONS LAWSUIT
As part of the Harvard Admissions Lawsuit, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is requesting citations to publications (i.e. books, articles, recordings, etc.) that chronicle:
- The experiences of Harvard/Radcliffe students/alumni before there were many students of color - we are looking for concise, yet compelling accounts that powerfully show why a diverse student body is important
- The contributions that students/alumni of color at Harvard/Radcliffe have made to the University and to society
- The history of our Latinx organizations (e.g., La Vida at Harvard)
Please scan/photograph the relevant pages and email them to mturnageyoung@naacpldf.org.
In addition, please be in touch if you are a member of a family with alums of different generations who are willing to be interviewed about how their lived experiences as students of color at Harvard differed.
VIRTUAL EVENTS:
"Race and the Pandemic: On the Front Lines"
Sunday, April 19, 4:00 - 5:00 pm EST, register here.
On the Front Lines with Dr. Mallika Marshall AB '92, Dr. Perry Pong AB '83, Ethel Billie Branch AB '01, JD '08, MPP '08 and Dr. Denise D. Payán AB '08, MPP '10.
Discussing topics such as: Why are Black, Latinx, and Native American communities being disproportionately affected by COVID-19? What steps can we take to prevent and address the disparities in infection and death rates? How has COVID-19 affected the Asian American community in NYC, now the U.S. epicenter, including the rise in hate crimes?
"Getting Out the Intersectional Vote: Latinx Voters and Grassroots Power Building"
By the Ash Center for Democratic Governance
Monday, April 20 at 12:00-1:00 pm EST, Register here.
As one of the fastest growing communities in the United States, Latinx voters are regarded as a sleeping giant. Yet the Latinx community is not a monolith in their viewpoints or voting patterns. Join Cristina Beltrán Ph.D., Associate Professor at New York University and Antonio Arrellano, Interim Executive Director of JOLT Action for a conversation exploring the Latinx voter, the issues they support, and ways to engage this growing voting bloc.
Raising Capital as a Latinx in Tech
April 21, 2020 at 1pm EDT Register here.
Join Harvard alums Elias Torres, Founder and CTO of Drift and Manny Medina, CEO of Outreach, as they discuss their experience, how to build a network and establish -- and share real, actionable advice for others trying to raise capital.
CAREER CORNER:
Café Bustelo® El Café del Futuro Scholarship
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities is partnering with Café Bustelo® to award twenty $5,000 El Café del Futuro Scholarships. The scholarship opportunity is available to undergraduate and graduate students of all majors who are enrolled full-time at a HACU-member institution, are 18 years old or older, of Hispanic/Latino descent and U.S. citizens or permanent legal residents. For scholarship guidelines, please click here. Click here to apply.
The Boustany MBA Harvard Scholarship
The Boustany MBA Harvard Scholarship is granted once every two years for a two-year course at Harvard Business School. The Harvard University MBA Scholarship will be awarded for the class commencing Autumn 2021. The scholarship offers aid amounting to US$95,000 (US$47,500 per year towards tuition fees. Successful scholars are expected to complete a two-month unpaid internship with the Foundation. Read more about it here.
FBI Special Agent Panel Discussion & Information Session
Hear directly from FBI Special Agents working a myriad of investigative squads. Join the conference call to learn about the application and vetting process.
May 5, 2020 at 2:00pm ET. RSVP at erivera6@fbi.gov by April 30th. Space is limited.
FBI Honors Internship Program: Collegiate Hiring Initiative & Internship
FBI employees previously hired as interns or as part of the Collegiate Hiring Initiative will share their transition to a myriad of roles within the FBI. Join the conference call to learn more about FBI’s hiring and application process.
May 11, 2020 at 1:00pm ET. RSVP at erivera6@fbi.gov by May 8th. Space is limited.
IN THE NEWS
WELCOME CLASS OF 2024!
Harvard College announced that 1,981 have been accepted to the class of 2024, totaling a 4.92% rate of acceptance, an increase from the 4.5% acceptance rate for the class of 2023. We are proud to announce that 12.7% of those accepted identify as Latinx students. Read more here.
PRESIDENT BACOW SHARES COVID-19 EXPERIENCE
President Bacow, now recovered, shares his experience with Coronavirus. Read his interview here.
GRADUATE SCHOOL ADMISSION PROCESS AFFECTED BY COVID-19
Several of the University’s graduate schools have adjusted their admissions programming and application processes following the shutdown of many campus operations. Similarly, various graduate school admissions examinations such as GMAT, GRE, MCAT, and LSAT, have been postponed or canceled. Read more here.
HMS STUDENTS OFFERED EARLY DEGREE OPTION TO HELP IN COVID-19 FIGHT
To assist health care workers who may soon be overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, Harvard Medical School is now offering fourth-year MD students the option to graduate early. Read more here.
HGSE IN CONFRONTING THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
The Harvard Graduate School of Education shares resources to help schools and communities prepare and respond, support young people, build resilience, and keep the learning going. Read more here
HBS LATINX COMPANIES PROVIDING RESOURCES
CaminoFinancial - HBS Mexican-American brothers found a Loan Co. to help Latino Small Business Thrive - link
Caribu App - A family-friendly video-calling app founded by Latina HBS alumna where kids can share stories, play games, and even color together. Visit Caribu to download. Read Forbes feature here.
IMPORTANT RESOURCES
To keep informed on the current impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and related counter-measures, please note the excellent resources listed below:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
John Hopkins University, Coronavirus Resource Center
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/
World Health Organization
https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses
Harvard Gazette Coronavirus Series
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/series/coronavirus/
INTERESTING READS
Use time at home to learn new skills online! Here are Free Ivy League courses.
This CDC video offers advice on how to prevent COVID-19.
Harvard and Chinese Scientists Collaborate on Coronavirus Research: link
Harvard to guarantee workers’ pay, benefits amid coronavirus disruptions: link
Lupe Hernandez - the Latina who is credited as the inventor of hand sanitizer: link
An FBI Public Service Announcement on the Rise of Online Fraud Schemes Related to the Coronavirus Outbreak: link
Stuck at Home? Take Yale’s Most Popular Course Ever: The Science of Happiness
Harvard Divinity School Spiritual Resources During the Covid-19 Pandemic: link
The Harvard Latino Alumni Alliance