Encuentros Leadership, a North County nonprofit helping Latino boys to stay in school since 2003, is creating a chapter in the South County.
A group of around 20 people, including business, education and political leaders, gathered at the South County Regional Education Center this Thursday, May 19, for an organizational meeting as part of a 20-step projected timeline for the creation of the South County Chapter.
“The organization was created after a North County Newspaper published a series of stories about the alarming high school drop out rates of Latino males,” said Encuentros Leadership Founder and Executive Director, Roberto Rivas. “There was a 55 percent dropout rate of high school Latino boys in North County.”
Encuentros Leadership started working with Vista and Oceanside school districts and created a classroom curriculum that was written in 2003 and updated in 2013 for high school Latino boys.
The classroom curriculum is one of five programs created by the non-profit to encourage and support boys of Latino descent to achieve optimal performance in education.
“The classroom curriculum is one of the most important programs,” added Rivas. “It started in 2006 and students from grade 6 form part of it.”
The curriculum is based on the textbook “Encuentros: Hombre a Hombre” and was launched as an education project at two middle school sites in North County, and the Vista Unified School District later agreed to implement it.
More than 650 Latino boys have being part of the Leadership Academy that started in 2006, as one of the programs for Encuentros Leadership.
The academy is held every year at the University of San Diego with 50 boys, and it consists in a weeklong college preparatory experience focused on coaching academically qualified grade 10 and 11 Latino male students on how to successfully navigate the rigors of college life and beyond.
“95 percent of the students that participated in the academy, are fulfilling their college education,” said Rivas. “They are getting their bachelor degrees.”
There is also the STEAM Education and Career Exploration Conference for Latino boys, as one of the programs, and its held once a year, since 2004.
The one-day conference teams up Latino professionals from different sectors like business, education and government agencies to deliver personal and professional advice to around 600 middle and high school Latino boys.
In 2013, a program called “Platicas: Hombre a Hombre” was created to put together a boy with his father in a six-week workshop held at the boy’s middle or high school, so the parents can help their sons with the student life.
“We have also started School Clubs called Encuentros Liderazgo held at the schools,” added Rivas. “This programs work, we have all the data to support it.”
The organization started with around 50 members in the North County, and is looking for partners in different sectors like business, education and political to create a South County Chapter.
