Nearly 100 students (grades 6-12) from schools across Central Texas will come together at UT Austin to explore the power of leadership and resilience at a four-day Leadership Summer Camp July 19-22 at the School of Social Work Building. The event is hosted by Con Mi MADRE, a nonprofit that helps Latina girls and their mothers prepare for college and beyond; and Project MALES (Mentoring to Achieve Latino Educational Success), a DDCE mentoring and research program for young men of color.

The workshops, seminars and speaker presentations will all revolve around the theme, “Resiliency through Leadership.” Activities will include:

• Daily Creative writing and expression workshops, including documentary filmmaking tutorials
• Morning keynote speeches provided by inspiring community leaders
• Discussion groups with Project MALES students and Con Mi MADRE mother-daughter participants
• Documentary presentations and competitions
• A “90s Old School” dance party at the Student Activity Center
• An overnight stay (both boys and girls joined by their mothers/family members) at Jester Residence Hall
• An end-of-camp concert at the School of Social Work’s Utopia Theater

This is the first time Con Mi Madre has partnered with Project MALES on the Leadership Summer Camp, which has been an annual tradition for the mother-daughter program for more than 25 years. Emmet Campos, Director of Project MALES, says the partnership will help build on the success of their annual summer enrichment program for Latino students from Austin ISD middle and high schools, which was launched in 2016.

“With the generous support of The Kresge Foundation, this collaboration will help build our capacity to serve even more students this summer,” Campos said. “Together, we can help our students develop their leadership and resiliency skills to achieve academic and personal success.”

The Leadership Summer Camp, offered free of charge, is supported by The Kresge Foundation, The Alice and Michael Kuhn Foundation and Austin Independent School District.

Go to the Chronicle of Education to read more about Project MALES, and how the program is helping Latino men into and through college.

For more information, contact: Jessica Sinn, Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, sinnjessica@austin.utexas.edu, 512-350-4291; Emmet Campos, director of Project MALES, ecampos@austin.utexas.edu, 512-471-1781; Mike Gutierrez, program coordinator of Project MALES, mike.gutierrez@austin.utexas.edu, 915-204-5897.