"The Latino Cultural Center provides programs and services that act as a bridge between UIC students, faculty and the Latino community. We serve students by fostering a positive atmosphere through the development of educational, cultural and social programs which lead to a greater retention and advancement of Latino students at UIC. In keeping with UIC’s urban mission, the center serves as a link between the university community and the Latino community by providing the latter with university progr ams and services and by bringing community concerns to the attention of the campus community." (Latin American Cultural Center Advisory Board: Five Year Plan, October 1991).

UIC’s four strategic initiatives, developed by the Standing Campus Priorities Committee aim at converting UIC into the "nation’s leading public research university striving to accomplish the land-grant mission in an urban setting".

The Latino Cultural Center’s mission and goals were developed by the Latin American Cultural Center Advisory Board and presented in a report in October of 1991. The Five-Year Plan Advisory Board was chaired by Professor Rafael Nuñez-Cedeñ o. The Board was divided into three subcommittees, the Structuring Sub-committee (chaired by student Patricio Navia), History sub-committee (chaired by student Patricio Navia) and the Programming sub-committee (chaired by students Adriana González and Martín Mercado). The remaining members of the Advisory Board were Otto Pikaza, Jorge Girotti, José López, Leonard Ramirez, José Molinaza, Miguel Perdomo and the following students Miguel Acosta, Cris Didato, Claudio Gaete, Silvia Villa, Alfonso Casal, Adriana González, Martín Mercado and Patricio Navia.

The Latin American Cultural Center’s Advisory Board Five-Year Plan was presented before the Standing Campus Priorities Committee’s. There are, however, many similarities in the mission statements of both committees.

• Initiative #1 of the Standing Campus Priorities Committee states "Research: UIC will become a first-rank university, judged by traditional academic criteria."

The Center’s mission includes a role for greater understanding and collaboration between university faculty, students and the community. Research on urban issues can be certainly fostered by strong links between researchers, students who are active in the community and the community itself. One of the Center’s goals is to provide and foster those links through programs, formal and informal networks. The Cultural Center is not, however, a research center. It ought not to be one. Although the Center’s pr ograms do provide a tool for the development of small research projects and the interaction with university faculty has provided opportunities for students to be involved with several research projects, the Center’s involvement with UIC’s research mission has consciously been designed to be limited.

• Initiative #2 of the SCPC states "Undergraduate Education: UIC will be known as a university that offers a superior undergraduate education."

The Center’s mission calls for the existence of educational, cultural and social programs that will enrich the students’ educational experience. By enhancing the quality of student life, the Center helps create an environment conducive to effective lea rning. Latino students are often faced with more difficult challenges compared to other students. In many cases, Latino students are non-native English speakers, come from bi-cultural and bi-lingual families, are first generation students and face financi al hardships. All these factors make them high risk students. The Center helps the development of an environment that will make the educational experience of Latino students less traumatic and more effective.

By providing programs that help students explore their cultural, ethnic and social values, the Center provides a rich complement to classroom education. The programs developed at the Center by students and for students help the participants develop lea dership qualities and fosters understanding of Latino culture by UIC’s diverse ethnic population.

• Initiative #3 calls for contribution to knowledge of urban issues. "The University will optimize its existence in Chicago and the State of Illinois. It will become an acknowledged participant in the educational, cultural and economic life of the co mmunity and be recognized as a focal point for the study of urban issues nationally and internationally.

Since its creation 20 years ago, the Center has fulfilled the University’s urban mission by providing a direct link to the Latino Community of Chicago. Initiative #3 is almost a footprint of the Center’s mission. A pioneer in helping the university und erstand urban issues, the Center was first designed to serve such a purpose. The leadership and vision of Latin American Studies and LARES in the 1970s’ first gave the center its vision and the student leadership has made sure that the Center continues to serve that role over its 20-year existence.

• Initiative #4 calls for good administration with minimal centralization, improved physical structure and integrated technological resources.

The Center has never had more than 3.0 FTE personnel. The first director of the Center was hired in 1993-94 and its operating budget has not increased significantly over the last three years while the number of programs has almost doubled. In 1993-94, there were 57 programs held and/or sponsored at/by the Cultural Center. In 1996-97, the number of programs increased to 104.

Doing more with less has traditionally been the concept under which the Center has operated. The University has, however, made an effort to better fund the Center during the last five years. The hiring of a new director and the increase in the budget i n 1993-94 and the funding for a new mural are examples of the university’s commitment to help the growth of the Center.

Future challenges, however, include the renovation of the computers in the computer lab, the acquisition of new technology for the Conference Room and the administrative offices to meet the challenges of the next century.

Altogether, the Center’s mission and goals are consistent with those of the University of Illinois at Chicago. It is safe to argue that to some extent the urban mission of the university has been positively influenced by the Cultural Center’s urban com mitment since its creation. During all the years that the Center was under the guidance of Latin American Studies, the Center’s mission and goals were developed in an interactive process. Students, LARES, faculty in LAST and the Latino community shaped th e center’s mission and goals. The Coming of age of the center with the hiring of a director and the new financial allocations in 1993-94 simply formalized what had been the view (and dream) of the Latino community at UIC for many years.

Comments:

The Center has always been a pioneer among Cultural Centers nationwide. The center has set precedent in an otherwise uncharted territory of program development and partnership building. Currently under the umbrella of Academic Affairs, the Center w as first established in 1976 and placed under Latin American Studies. By the late 1980’s, although officially still under Latin American Studies, the Center had acquired a life of its own and became a self-governing unit. A Center Coordinator, who reporte d to Latin American Studies and Academic Affairs, was the only paid academic staff in the Center. Latin American Studies was ultimately responsible for the Center’s budget, although the Coordinator was granted the decision making power on the Center’s act ivities and expenditures. Active student participation and the commitment on the part of Latin American Studies to foster such involvement led to the formation of a Latin American Cultural Center Advisory Board in 1991. The Board drafted a Five-Year Plan that included a mission statement (the first ever for the Center) and a set of Goals.

The existing coordinator position (the only staff person at the Center at the time) was replaced by a Program Coordinator in 1992-93. A Search Committee was established that same year and Dr. Carramiñana was brought in as the first director of t he Center the following year and Silvia Villa (the Program Coordinator in 92-93) was given the title of Assistant to the Director. A Secretary was also hired during the restructuring process.

Currently, the Center’s staff includes Dr. Carramiñana as the Director and Ms. Villa as Assistant to the Director. A more effective administrative structure would include a position for a director, an assistant director, a business manager and p rogram coordinators. With such a structure, the Center would better serve its mission and achieve its goals.

Since its creation, the Center has occupied Lecture Center B-2. Until the renovation of the Lecture Centers in 1993-95, the Center comprised the first level of Lecture Center B-2. In the mid 1980’s, under a student initiative, a mural, "Our Essence , Our Presence" was painted in the walls of Lecture Center B-2.

With the University’s decision to renovate the Lecture Centers, the Center was temporarily moved to the third floor of Adams Hall.

Once the renovation was complete, Lecture Center B-2 included a much larger bathroom on the first floor, an internal stairway and an elevator to the basement. Both the first floor and the basement of B-2 were now assigned to the Cultural Center. Admini strative offices were placed in the basement while the first floor was converted into a lecture room with state-of-the-art technology.

An special allocation was made for a new mural. The project was completed under the direction of Mexican Muralist Héctor Duarte in 1996.

A 24-hour computer lab, with machines purchased and maintained by the Center, was open in the basement of the Center for student use. Rules and regulations for the computer lab were also developed and established by the Center with student input .

The Cultural Center hosts and sponsors dozens of programs every year. Programs vary in scope, audience targeted, and themes. Often, the Center hosts lectures by scholars, writers, politicians and other public figures from Latin America and the United S tates. Musical presentations by local and national groups are also sponsored and organized by the Center. Cultural and social activities organized by UIC Latinos and non-Latino student organizations are also held at the Center and the Center staff helps o rganize those events. The Center has also developed series of events for the Fall and Spring semesters.

Latinos in Chicago. First Thursday of the Month 12-2 p.m.

Latinos in the USA. Second Thursday of the Month 12-2 p.m.

Poetry Readings. Third Thursday of the Month.

Latino Films/Boob Reviews/Social Raps. Fourth Thursday of the Month.

Conferences, Gritos, lectures, films, workshops, forums, symposiums, etc. Highlights: Escucha Mi Grito Conference, Grito de Lares and Latin American Fair.

Latinos in Chicago. First Thursday of the Month 12-2 p.m.

Latinos in the USA. Second Thursday of the Month 12-2 p.m.

Poetry Readings. Third Thursday of the Month.

Latino Films/Boob Reviews/Social Raps. Fourth Thursday of the Month.

The clothes line has become a popular artistic expression for students to come together with other groups to discuss issues pertaining to Latino women in the U.S.

Conferences, lectures, films, workshops, forums, symposium, etc.

This well known city-wide event is also held at the Center and sponsored by the Center.

The Center has also established the tradition of holding one large cultural festival each semester. In the Fall Semester we celebrate the Latino Heritage Month and in the Spring we have the Latino Spring Festival.

The Annual Assessment Table on the next page presents a general overview of programs held at the Center from 1991 to 1997. Appendix 1 (Report A: Detailed Summary of Events, Themes, Description and Attendance) presents all the programs held at th e Center during the 1996-97 Academic Year.

The following table presents the number reported to the Illinois Board of Higher Education in our annual UIC Program Update Form.

Below, you will find an annual assessment table that includes our staff pattern over the years, our budget and the number of programs and events held at the Cultural Center. The table is followed by a list of major accomplishments for the academic year s starting in 1991 and finishing in 1997.

1. Development of five-year plan.

1. General Organization of the Cultural Center, establishing mechanisms for record keeping, collecting, and filing records from Latin American Studies and establishing office procedures.

 

1. Restructuring of staff and office responsibilities.

 

1. Consolidation of programs, student initiatives and department requests.

 

1. Search committee to select first director of the Cultural Center.

N.A.

1. Development of community partnerships
1. Student town meetings about remodeling, community lecture and public input by community.

1. Student Collaborations.
1. Conferences: Escucha Mi Grito, Latino Spring Festival/Cinco de Mayo.

1. Development of guidelines for monetary support to student organizations and for providing outside fund-raising contacts.

 

1. Small external fund-raising for theater presentations and Spring Festival/Cinco de Mayo totaling $10,000.

 

1. Continued the temporary move to Adams Hall while LC B-2 was under renovation.

 

1. Effective liaison between Latino community, students, and university administration.

 

1. Researched options to save old mural in cultural center. Worked with Macondo Corp. and Rodrigo del Canto in searching ways to save the mural.

 

1. Student theater group performed La Víctima.

1. Supported effort by a Ph.D. student in the college of Education to interview students at the Cultural Center.

1. Hosted a panel on sexism in Latino communities.

 

1. Formalized partnerships with Casa Aztlán and Women for Guatemala, among other community organizations.

 

1. Developed guidelines for community initiatives and began establishing informal networks.

 

1. Coordinated the effort with more than 30 community organizations and obtained financial support to bring Nobel Peace Prize recipient Rigoberta Menchú to campus.

 

1. Approached several university units and departments to explore possibilities of working together in future programs.

1. Developed major themes for monthly Latinos series. The successful attempt to move from one-day events to one festival per semester: the Latino Heritage Month each fall and the Latino Spring Festival/Cinco de Mayo.

 

1. Visit by Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Prize winner from Guatemala for her work on indigenous rights.

 

1. Collaboration with community initiatives.

 

1. Development of several programs with the Latino community.

1. Technological upgrade of computer equipment for administrative offices.

 

1. New ledger accounts, proper names and delivery of budget to proper address, open new revolving account, own mailing code and address.

1. Support to academic staff and Ph.D. students by providing space and resources to aid them in small projects. Continued informal networks to provide a constant pool of student subjects for interviews.

1. Expanded the number of community organizations that organize programs in conjunction with the Center, increased the number of events sponsored by Community organizations held in the Center.

 

1. Partnered with Old Town School of Folk Music to promote greater outreach to the Latino Community for the Old Town School’s programs and events.

 

1. Developed new and more comprehensive mailing lists to include the larger Chicago metropolitan area.

1. Formalized partnerships with student organizations and community organizations.

 

1. Instituted the Central American and South American symposiums.

1. Furnished and maximize the use of the new space in the basement of Lecture Center B-2. Established permanent office space for Director, Assistant to the Director and Receptionist at the permanent location.

 

1. Paid off deficit by more than half.

 

1. Raised $20,000 for Latino Heritage Month, Latino Film Festival and other programs. The money came university program funding units (SAFC, etc.) and from the private sector.

1. Assisted several individuals seeking bilingual interviewers for research projects, continued informal contacts with faculty members and department doing research on Latinos in the U.S.

1. Continued to assist community organizations that held and sponsored events at the Center. Assistance included logistic support, mailing lists, publicity and program development.

 

1. Served in community programs held outside the Center as volunteers and helped in the organization of such programs.

 

1. Created promotion packet where radio stations sponsored and provided live entertainment.

1. Continued to develop collaborative partnerships, focused partnership development in programs such as Escucha Mi Grito and Grito de Lares, student-organized annual events held at the Cultural Center.

 

1. Formalized participation with community organizations.

1. Revitalize Student Advisory Board, met with Student Advisory Board regularly and formalized the Board’s role in the Center’s administration.

 

1. Hosted creative program meetings.

 

1. Met with appropriate administration to improve safety for student working outside office hours in the computer lab. Developed a new safety plan that included registration of students who use the facility and the installation of a new security telephone.

 

1. Hired graduate assistant to conduct a oral history project on the history of the Cultural Center.

 

1. Upgraded computer equipment for the administrative offices and linked the computer lab to the university network.

 

1. Drafted Cultural Center’s user handbook and conducted office assessment for better services and identified areas of improvement.

 

1. Raised close to $20,000 for program activities. Most resources came from funding proposals requested and approved by university funding units (SAFC and others).

1. Developed a plan to write the history of the Cultural Center. The plan included the hiring of a graduate assistant who will conduct interviews in the university and the community. The 20-year history of the Center, the students, community organiza tions and faculty members who participated in its formation and throughout its history will be formally documented and made available on our web page and possibly in printed format as well.

1. Developed a large student email mailing list (listserv) for our events, the listserv includes more than 4000 names. Also published our weekly list of events in the Academy and Latino-L listservs.

 

1. Enhanced our marketing skills and procedures.

 

1. Reached out to community organizations to inform them of the Center’s mission and new operating principles.

1. Enhanced organizational and programmatic structure.

 

1. Developed guidelines for general assistance, sponsorship and partnerships with student organizations and community organizations.

 

1. Enhanced community, student organization and department/unit liaison.

 

1. Reached out and met with student organizations to create Student Advisory Board.

The Center was first established in 1976. During its first 15 years of existence, the Center was officially dependent on Latin American Studies. Although the Center had a coordinator, Latin American Studies was ultimately responsible for the decisions of the Center.

In 1987, The Center had recently finished its largest project ever, the "Our Essence, Our Presence" mural. The mural was a student project developed under the leadership of José Luis López, an undergraduate student. Professor Marc Zimmerm an, currently with Latin American Studies, was the coordinator of the Center at the time. Professor Zimmerman joined Latin American Studies as an assistant professor then and Mr. López was appointed coordinator of the Center.

After Mr. López’s tenure, then Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Louise Año Nuevo Kerr appointed José González, a local Chicago artist as visiting coordinator of the Cultural Center. Mr. González’s tenure was followed by the appointment of Silvia Villa as program coordinator for the Center in 1992.

At the time, Doctor Kerr had convened a committee of students, faculty and staff, chaired by Professor Nuñez-Cedeño of Latin American Studies, to present a Five-Year Plan for the development of the Cultural Center.

The committee presented its report in 1991-92, and a Search Committee was established in 1992-93 for the first director of the Cultural Center.

Dr. Carramiñana was appointed in 1993-94 and Ms. Villa was appointed Assistant to the Director.

Dr. Nuñez-Cedeño’s committee also drafted the first official version of the Center’s mission and goals.

The past ten years have then witnessed the consolidation of the Cultural Center as an independent unit on campus. The first director of the Center was appointed and the number of staff members increased.

The renovation of the Lecture Centers also provided an opportunity to increase the space of the Center. Currently the Center occupies the first floor and the basement of Lecture Center B-2.

Having a director has given the Center more visibility on campus. Dr. Carramiñana holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics and is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Mathematics. He teaches one class per semester. Dr. Carramiñana has been appointed to several campus wide committees, including the Search committees for Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Vice Chancellor for Administration. He has also served as co-chair of the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos. Dr. Ca rramiñana also serves in several community organizations’ board of directors and scholarship selection committees. Dr. Carramiñana has also served as UIC’s representative to the Midwest Consortium on Latino Research.

Ms. Villa, who has served as assistant to the director, has developed strong links with several community organizations and student organizations. She has effectively served as a business manager and program coordinator for the two major events each ac ademic year: The Latino Heritage Month and the Latino Spring Festival.

The Center was established in 1976. It was one of the first cultural centers to be established nationwide. Many other centers have been established mirroring the mission and objectives of the Rafael Cintrón-Ortíz Latino Cultural Cente r. The focus on developing links and understanding between the three major constituencies of the Center, students, faculty and community has been a long standing goal of the Center. We are proud to say that we have set precedent for many other cultural ce nters in the nation.

The Center’s mission calls for providing the community with university programs and for bringing community concerns to the attention of the university. Many cultural centers in the nation have been developed in recent years to address those issues.

The leadership of students, community organizations and university faculty in the early 1970’s developed the Center’s mission and set a path for many other universities to follow.

The Cintrón-Ortiz Cultural Center is unique in that it encompasses social, cultural and educational activities. This is not a social center, or purely a cultural center. Thus, we can not be compared with centers that solely provide a soc ial environment for Latino students. Neither should it be measured against community based cultural centers that are designed to foster the development of cultural activities in the community. We are not a research center, although we have helped research ers and funded small student-led research programs.

The Cultural Center is a combination of an advocacy unit for Latinos on campus and a gateway for the Latino community to access university services and programs. We also provide a home for Latino students on campus to help them develop leadership s kills, help them organize socially, culturally and politically. We help foster interactions between students and the community. Finally, we also serve faculty by providing them with resources to interact with students and with the Latino community. In the Center, we see our mission as providing resources, creating links and building bridges between our three constituencies, students, faculty and the community. In that sense we are unique and a pioneer in cultural centers nationwide.

We must be effective in facilitating interactions between our three constituencies. We must develop programs that will foster those interactions. We must bring students, faculty and the community together. We must open the university doors to the c ommunity, we must provide a platform for students to develop leadership skills, for them to voice their cultural, social and political concerns. We must help faculty to reach out to students and the community, we must be resourceful in facilitating the in teractions between our three constituencies. We aim to bring awareness to the campus and provide services to the community.

Our greatest strength is our history of advocacy, compromise and commitment to the issues that are of concern to the Latino community, Latino students and faculty that deals with Latino issues. We have been successful in creating bridges between st udents and the community, between concerned faculty members and students, and between the community and our faculty. The Center is well-known and over the years it has gained the respect of the Latino community, faculty and students at UIC.

However, we also face some challenges. Our budget often prevents us from developing as many programs as we would like. We run the risk of losing sight of our mission and goals because we are often times overwhelmed by the demanding needs of our eve ryday programs. Because we must strive to serve our three constituencies, we must strive to maintain strong links with each one of them. Traditionally, we have been more successful in maintaining good working relationships with students and student organi zations. Our contacts with the Latino community sometimes is weakened by the emergence of new organizations and the demise of existing ones. We must strive to reach out to new organizations that constantly develop in our vibrant Latino community of Chicag o. Finally, our greatest challenge is to develop and maintain working relationships with faculty at UIC. We must reach out to them and offer our services. We must also reach out to units on campus and achieve a place of well-deserved respect among univers ity units on both sides of campus as a resourceful, helpful and efficient unit that will provide access to the Latino community and Latino students.

Since the 1991 5-year plan drafted by Advisory Board, the unit has been under a profound redevelopment. With the arrival of the new director, the greater allocation of funds and the renovation of the Lecture Centers, some of the Center’s original goals have been finalized achieved after 20 years of existence.

We must strive to continue to be effective in advocating Latino issues on campus, in providing a home and a place for Latino students to complement and supplement their education and in opening the university to the Latino community of Chicago.

During the past three years, the Director’s involvement on campus committees has exposed the Center to the UIC community in general. The Center’s staff has also been active in many community organizations and has created strong partnerships with se veral organizations that have resulted in programs and events in the Center.

We have successfully put our financial house in order. We inherited a $11,000 deficit which we have already paid off. We welcomed the university funding for the mural which was commissioned to Héctor Duarte and was completed in 1996-97.

We have also upgraded our computer system for administrative purposes and for student use in the computer lab. The Lecture Room was furnished with state-of-the-art visual technology, a new sound system was acquired and has been widely used for such events as Latino Film Festivals, movie screenings, video presentations by speakers and visitors, human rights organizations and student-led projects.

The Center developed an internal chain of commands with assigned responsibilities for each member of the staff. The Center has consolidated its position as an independent unit and we now feel ready to develop stronger partnerships with units that h ave been historically associated with the Center such as Latin American Studies and LARES. We have began to explore and develop relationships with other units which can be potential partners in projects, mirroring the relationship we have developed with t he African American Cultural Center.

We have undertaken our first major research project. Although we continue to support small research projects by students and have continued to be a resource for faculty members doing research on Latinos in the U.S. and Chicago, our first major research project pays tribute to the contributions made to the University and the community by those who first developed the concept of a Latino Cultural Center at UIC. The Research Project aims to document the history of the Center, which is also the history of Latino presence at UIC. We have interviewed people who have been active in the Center over the years and have researched the university records (documents, press and reports). A forthcoming document will be the corner stone of a project tha t aims to document the presence and contributions of Latino student to the university community and to the growth of the Latino community. The history of interaction and partnerships fostered at the Center between our three major constituencies will be re searched and recorded for reference and educational purposes at the Center in printed format and in our web page.

Since its creation, the Center has focused on developing partnerships with community organizations. In fact, the pressure of community organizations, acting in coordination with students and faculty is responsible for the very existence of the Center. We aim to maintain and further strengthen those partnerships. Often times, we find that the changes in leadership in many of these organizations make it difficult to develop working relationships with such organizations. We strive to mainta in contact with them and reach out to them. We also seek to reach out to larger audiences by making use of mass media to publicize our events. In 1996-97, 94 of our programs were publicized by television or radio stations to the Latino community of Chicag o. The Chicago Tribune ran a story of Lorna D. Cervantes, the Latina writer, when she came to lecture at the Cultural Center. Latino TV stations have interviewed students at the Center and the Center’s staff for major local and national stories during the 1996-97 academic year.

A list of our activities for the 1996-97 academic year is attached in Appendix 1 (Report A: Detailed Summary of Events, Themes , Description and Attendance). However, some of our major accomplishments during the past few years inc lude the partnership we have developed with the Chicago Latino Film Festival (with the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Latinos), the largest Latino Film Festival in the U.S. The 1994 visit of Rigoberta Menchú, the Guatemalan Indigenous and Human Rights Activist, recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

We have also been successful in helping student organizations establish annual conferences. The MESA’s sponsored Escucha Mi Grito Conference is now well known nationally. The Grito de Lares annual Conference is also acquiring a national reputation. We aim to continue helping student organizations develop such events.

The 1991 Five Year plan called for a profound redefinition of the Cultural Center. The position of Director was central to that plan. In 1994, Professor Carramiñana joined the Latino Cultural Center and thus one of the objectives of the Five Year Plan was achieved.

The Five Year Plan also called for the establishment of two advisory boards, the Student Cultural Center Board and the University/Community Cultural Center Board. With the temporary reallocation of the Cultural Center in 1994 and the move to the perman ent space in 1995, the implementation of that plan had to be delayed.

Developing the structure of the Center, acquiring the equipment and furnishing the renovated Lecture Center B-2 became the priority of the Center. The commissioning of the new mural in 1995-96 was also one of the top priorities.

In 1996-97, the Center focused on the formation of the Student Board. Throughout its history, the Cultural Center has been a place for students to express their concerns and develop their programs. In 1996-97, the Center invited the existing 22 Latino student organizations and convened the Latino Student Advisory Board. The Board met regularly during the academic year. It is the objective of the Board to establish mechanisms to regulate the interactions that exist between the Cultural Center and the St udent Organizations.

We plan to further develop the working relationship between the Student Board and the administration of the Cultural Center, to plan and develop programs together and to facilitate the resources of the Center to student organizations so that they can m ake the best use possible of our facilities and resources.

The 1991 Five Year Plan (to be implemented between 1992-97) also called for the creation of a University/Community Advisory Board. The delay caused by the temporary relocation of the Center and the hiring of a new director has prevented us from bringin g that Board to life.

However, our next goal, now that the Student Board is alive and well, is to foster the creation of a University/Community Advisory Board. We will make an effort to reach out to community organizations that have worked with us in the past and to other o rganizations that might have an interest in working with UIC and will invite them to participate in the University/Community Board. We will also reach out to University units traditionally associated with the Center (Latin American Studies and LARES), to interested Latino organizations on campus (CCSL, LCUA) and to units that might develop partnerships with the Cultural Center.

• New Administrative Structure

We will begin the development of a long term plan that will change the administrative structure of the Center. The position of director will continue to be a center piece in the administrative structure. However, that position should require a tenu red or tenure-track appointment. The everyday demands and needs of the Center and the Director’s involvement in various campus committees makes it difficult for a single person to successfully run the Center, represent the Center in the University communi ty and conduct academic research.

An assistant director position should be created to help with the administrative tasks of the Center. This academic staff person would be in charge of the Center’s daily operation, everyday budgetary needs and project coordination. The position of Proj ect Coordinator should also be created. That person would concentrate on organizing the two annual events of the Center, the Latino Heritage Month in the fall and the Latino Spring Festival-Cinco de Mayo in the Spring.

• Formalizing Partnerships

The Center has had a long history of informal partnerships with student organizations, university units and community organizations. We must move towards formalizing some of those partnerships. We will most likely follow the model that we used with the Chicago Latino Cinema and the Chicago Film Festival. Similar partnerships are currently being developed with the Old Town School of Folk Music and several community organizations.

We also need to formalize our partnerships with some units on campus that make use of our facilities and cosponsor programs with us. The Latin American Studies Program, LARES, the Spanish Department and the CCSL are some of the units that we will first contact to formalize our partnerships.

We will establish formal mechanisms for these units to make use of our limited program funding resources and our direct contact and interaction with student and community organizations.

The Cultural Center is not and ought not be a Research Center. However, in a small and limited scale we will continue to fund small student research projects and will continue to provide our support and resources for faculty who conduct stud ies on Latino issues in Chicago and the U.S.

We will continue to conduct our project on the history of the Latino Cultural Center. We aim to document the contributions Latino students have made to the University and the community. We will document the role the Cultural Center has played over the years in helping the growth of the Latino community in the Chicago. We expect to make our findings available to the larger community in the university and to the Latino community. In creative ways, we will also support and fund student projects that aim t o research the contribution Latino students have made to the growth of the community and to increase Latino presence at the University of Illinois.

By making the result of these research projects available in publications sponsored by the Center and in an on-line format, we hope to contribute to the development of a well document database on the history of Latino presence at UIC.

We will also create a video library with the proceedings of some of the conferences and lectures held at the Cultural Center and will facilitate them to faculty members who may wish to use them in their classes. It is our objective to develop a video a nd document library with proceedings of conferences, papers presented at the center and videos of poetry readings and artistic presentations.

The Center’s three main constituencies are the community, students and faculty. Although the three are equally important to the Center and should be equal partners in their interactions at the Center, the community occupies a pivotal role in the life of the Center.

Because students and faculty are ultimately a part of the University, although in many cases they are also a part of the community, the Center’s mission to create links between the university and the community encourages us to find ways to reach out to the community.

The Center must provide the channels for those three constituencies to interact, we must make sure that there is interaction going in both directions. We will be successful if we can bring the community to the university and the university to the commu nity.

In order to do that, we will reach out to community organizations and form the University/Community Advisory Board. Once the Board is formed, we will encourage the interaction between our two advisory board. We will also develop more programs to create links between our constituencies.

During the next five years, we will continue to develop partnerships with community organizations. We must be specially sensitive to the issue that many community organizations change leadership often and new leaders are not always familiar with the ex istence of the Center. The rapid growth of the Latino community has also meant that new immigrants organize in the greater Chicago area and do not learn about the existence of the Center and the resources available to them here. Me must make a concerted, continuous effort to reach out to all Latino community organizations, develop partnerships and maintain those partnerships over time.

During the next year we will concentrate on maintaining and improving the programs we already have and in consolidating the Student and University/Community advisory boards for the Center.

The following seven goals are of vital importance to continue the growth that the Center has experienced over the past five years:

• Consolidate the Student Advisory Board and create the University/Community Advisory Board.
• Develop an strategic plan for the administrative restructuring of the Cultural Center to better serve the needs of our growing Latino population at UIC and in the metropolitan area.
• Complete the Cultural Center’s history project and make it available in printed and on-line form.
• Program, organize, conduct and sponsor quality cultural, social and educational programs for the university and the Latino community.
• Develop a newsletter for the UIC community and the Latino community highlighting our programs, activities and providing a space for Latino students to participate.
• Work with university units and Latino student organizations to develop and implement leadership programs for Latino students and community organizations.
• Reach out to new organizations in the community, to other UIC units and to more students and student organizations to offer our services, resources and support.