Latino Dialogues are more than just talk

About five years ago, then-College junior Carlos Rivera-Anaya proposed a program that offered a completely student-led dialogue on Latino issues with scholars, politicians, musicians and professors.

The program - at the time called the Latino Dialogue Institute Series - eventually became Penn's only entirely student-run course, the Latino Dialogue Institute, which is offered every spring. Applications for spring 2009 are due Dec. 1.

La Casa Latina director Johnny Irizarry said that thanks to a $7,000 grant from the Provost's Diversity Fund that was approved in June, the Latino Dialogue Institute will be incorporated into a larger pilot project next semester: the Latino Studies Partnership Project.

For the first of three components - the component being preserved from the original LDI - students will meet once a week for three hours. Each week will feature a different scholar who will discuss a topic related to Latino issues that has been chosen by the students in the program.

"The focus of LDI is really Latino issues in the U.S.," said LDI Facilitator and College junior Gabriella Garcia.

Among the possible topics for next semester, she listed immigration, history and legislation, healthcare disparities, the Latino juvenile justice system and Latin American political history.

Students can choose to petition for credit for the LDI component by preparing a research portfolio, explained Latin American and Latino Studies Director Ann Farnsworth-Alvares.

To help with their research, each student will be given an adviser and will enroll in LALS 400.

The second component Irizarry called the academic component and said that "for each scholar, that might be different."

For example, he said that a visiting scholar might dialogue with a Penn professor or with graduate students. This event would be open to the entire Penn community.

"The idea," said Irizarry, "is to expand the audience for that scholar."

For the final component of LSPP, the scholar will be matched with community organizations and activist groups based on that scholar's specific research. LDI students will take turns facilitating dialogues between the scholar and the Philadelphia Latino community.

This component would not be possible without the grant from the Provost's Diversity Fund, said Irizarry, explaining that the grant foots the scholars' expenses for an extra day.

But, "this is a one-year grant," said Irizarry, adding that this portion of the program might not be possible after this year.

But he added that they could expand the program and apply for more funding next year.

Even if they are not able to replace their grant with other funding next year, the LDI component will remain because the LALS department has already budgeted for the program, he said.

Rivera-Anaya said that the program's "sheer sustainability and its longevity" illustrate that the program has been successful, and that he hopes the program continues to grow.

"The sky's the limit with LDI," he said.

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