UCLA Latino Alumni Association – An Effective Way to Support Latinx Education

The UCLA Latino Alumni Association is a non-profit organization operating under the UCLA Diverse Alumni, with the goal of raising money for scholarships and bringing the UCLA Latinx community together around education.

College is expensive. The cost of tuition is prohibitive to many students, particularly minorities, even when taking into account lower tuition rates for California residents in the UC system. The UCLA Latino Alumni Association is committed to breaking this barrier to education in a meaningful way for as many California resident Latinx students as possible. ULAA’s efforts, however, don’t end there; tuition is only the first challenge. Many Latinx students are the first in their families to attend college. Often, their parents don’t have first-hand knowledge of what completing a college degree entails, so many Latinx students navigate college with little guidance. This can be scary, overwhelming, and discouraging. Many students don’t access helpful resources because they don’t know those resources exist. With these barriers to success in mind, the UCLA Latino Alumni Association focuses its efforts on raising money for tuition as well as creating community and mentorship for students when they arrive. 

In March 2020, when COVID-19 closed down Los Angeles, ULAA was close to completing the ‘19-’20 board terms and instating a new ’20-’21 board, without any understanding of the pandemic’s eventual and exponential severity. Luckily, UCLA Diverse Alumni had a prescient goal of consistency for the leadership already in mind, and the new 20’-21’ ULAA board was a group of highly motivated, adaptable, and mostly returning volunteer board members.

During the next eighteen months of the pandemic, ULAA’s board worked tirelessly to engage the community, adding mental health resources and accurate, science-based COVID resources to their platforms in order to serve the most vulnerable and hesitant Latinx members. Because the class of 2020 was not only going to miss their last quarter, finish under impossible circumstances, and also miss any “normal” graduation, ULAA made an effort to uplift the students’ great accomplishment by sharing in their congratulations via social media and participating in person at the smaller RAZA grad, a student-run ceremony honoring Chicanx and Latinx graduating students. ULAA also presented an extremely relevant virtual alumni career panel specifically aimed at the Bruin Class of 2020.  Fifty alumni attendees joined ULAA’s first virtual panel, “Launching Your Career in Uncertain Times,” to discuss the difficulties of job searching during the unprecedented pandemic job market. Three amazing 2008 graduates who managed to successfully navigate the Great Recession job market at the beginning of their own careers shared their experience.

Due to the success of ULAA’s first virtual career panel, and because a survey revealed 54% of undergrads and 45% of graduates agreed that ULAA-organized alumni panels were the number one priority during the pandemic, ULAA went on to host four more panels throughout the course of the pandemic. ULAA’s STEM panel featured NASA Engineer Katya Echazarreta ’19, emergency room medical doctor Jesus Torres ’07, and former Chevron project manager and engineer Randy Arizmendiz ’09. Ivette Jimenez ’11, N.P., moderated the session. Attendees learned about how the panelists thrived by utilizing supportive organizations on campus and carving out their place, despite having few Latinx classmates or teachers. One particularly poignant moment was when Dr. Torres revealed he hadn’t had internet access at critical points during his academic journey! An unbelievable truth, given how much modern life depends on the internet, but also a completely relatable truth to the audience, some of whom had faced that same reality.

As the pandemic dragged on, it became clear that the Bruin Class of 2021 would also miss much of their last year and any big graduation celebrations. ULAA collected 2021 graduate photos and bios and shared them across social media in order to celebrate the students’ huge accomplishments. ULAA provided a platform to share the graduates’ immediate plans and future goals with the wider alumni network, which inspired the alumni to connect even further. ULAA also hosted virtual panels for weary new members. One panel focused on the importance of mentorship in improving personal, academic, and career success. Another focused on conventional and unconventional paths toward career goals, regardless of one’s specific degree. Students learned from alumni panelists that there are many paths to arrive at the same goals, and one can’t forget to return to the idea of mentorship when assessing those paths. Like all previous panels, ULAA attendance was strong and the panels clearly provided valuable resources and fostered a strong sense of community. 

Aside from its incredible student initiatives, ULAA knows how to have a good time! In the early months of the pandemic, ULAA hosted a watch party with special guests and Latino Bruin filmmakers Patrick Perez and Cristina Nava, for their film, In Other Words, now available on HBO Max. The movie, that many have said is “Like Water for Chocolate meets Sideways,” was filmed in Mexico and shot in both English and Spanish. ULAA watched comedy together which helped everyone feel less isolated, and initiated hugely important conversations surrounding Latinx representation in the media. ULAA promoted outdoor exercise in the fall with a socially distant Instagram campaign, encouraging members to share their favorite Los Angeles area hiking spots. @LatinoBruins followers tagged beautiful hiking trails in their Instagram photos, giving other followers an idea of what to expect on the trail, and ULAA put together a list encouraging the community to find free, healthy, outdoor options for socially distanced bonding. On social media, ULAA also supported the UCLA Platelet Center and the Red Cross with a November blood drive. For the holidays, ULAA threw an energetic Ugly Sweater Soiree with a DJ host and prizes. One of the best parts was the video invite made by UCLA graduate and current Anderson School of Business MBA, Yitsac Sandoval and Erick Gurrola aka DJ Chicho. With the help of Pledgeling, where scholarship recipient Andrea Arias is now a team member, ULAA raised over 1K via text donations, in addition to supporting the Children’s Institute’s annual toy drive, with toys donated in lieu of soiree tickets. ULAA repeated this success with a fun Loteria Party in Spring, with DJ Chicho back in the house. During the Loteria night party, ULAA raised another 1K for scholarships. These scholarship donations are deposited in their entirety into endowed and semi-endowed funds so they gain interest, providing additional scholarship funds for incoming freshmen.

In the Spring, ULAA opened a revamped scholarship application process for California resident high school seniors entering UCLA in the fall of 2021. ULAA received many amazing applications, and after much consideration, three highly deserving students were gifted 30k over three years. If that wasn’t amazing enough, ULAA also learned a great deal from personal essays about how the pandemic was affecting incoming Latinx students. For example, many were completing their senior years in environments that presented great challenges to concentration, with many family members occupying tight quarters, all using the same WiFi. Some completed the entirety of their senior year coursework on phones. ULAA learned that many incoming Latinx students took on extra responsibilities during the pandemic, caring for younger cousins and siblings, so parents could work the same (or longer) hours. ULAA learned that some applicants spent long days working in agricultural fields to support their families. ULAA also learned many applicants’ parents lost income due to the pandemic, and difficult domestic situations played a part in the increased stress students endured. Times were truly tough, in so many different ways, for the cross-section of stories ULAA had the privilege of considering. In an ideal world, ULAA could have made a meaningful difference in all of these stories. 

While ULAA’s agility and adaptability were important to meeting members’ needs immediately in a crisis, ULAA also began to implement a long-term strategy towards increasing their visibility to the community. After a member survey revealed Instagram as alumni’s preferred source of ULAA news information, ULAA grew its Instagram account by over 30% to reach over 3.6K followers. ULAA also created a Pinterest account to draw more traffic and promote Bruin-owned businesses. ULAA’s TikTok debut video announced the scholarship application process, which was shared across social media. ULAA continues to produce a newsletter, reaching an email base of 25K. For website content, ULAA continues the tradition of spotlighting Bruin alumni making a difference in the community, including Brenda Robles, a triple Bruin working for the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. ULAA also expanded further into video, spotlighting several exciting California Bruins via the Latino Bruin YouTube Channel, including Lena Hines, a highly accomplished tax-lawyer and ULAA Board member, Emmy award-winning reporter Enrique Chiabra of Telemundo, and former UCLA athlete and Olympian Carlo Valdes.

ULAA implemented Search Engine Optimization on the website, increasing search results related to terms like “Latino scholarships.” ULAA Volunteer Jessica Zaldana wrote articles in support of voting and representation efforts (Working for the Census and Volunteering as a Poll Worker), issues that are so important to the Latino community. ULAA writer Jessica Zaldana also had the privilege to connect with former ULAA scholar Esmeralda Suarez, with a goal of understanding how the ULAA scholarship has impacted her life trajectory. This was an important story ULAA was able to share with potential donors. In July 2021, ULAA was able to raise another 18K in scholarship donations during their annual SPARK campaign. 

ULAA’s University Relations Committee created the ULAA Student Survey to understand how to better leverage the alumni network to lift up Bruins. Some notable insights were that 70% of undergraduate respondents were first-gen college students and 50% of grad students were first-gen undergrad students. 42% of undergrads and 84% of graduate respondents commuted to campus. 42% of undergraduate respondents were working while pursuing education, with 21% working more than one job. 60% of graduate respondents were working while pursuing education, with 17% working more than one job. 

Annually, ULAA boasts its amazing OrgullOSO Mentor Program, where Latino Alumni volunteers are paired with scholarship recipients. Many students don’t know where to seek out this incredible resource, so ULAA reaches out to these students. Volunteer mentors are asked to commit for one academic year, attend events hosted by ULAA, and connect with students one-on-one (Zoom, phone call, texting, etc.) at least twice every quarter. All professional disciplines, as well as alumni living outside of the greater Los Angeles area, are considered to volunteer in an effort to put scholars in contact with the right match for their goals.

ULAA’s most recent event, the first in-person event in over a year, was a hike organized with the Los Angeles chapter of the Stanford Latino Alumni Association at the iconic Griffith Park. Over sixty UCLA and Stanford alumni convened on a Sunday morning, the day after the UCLA v. Stanford football game, to meet and make connections on a fun hike with plenty of pics to share on social media. ULAA once again provided a great opportunity to connect with like-minded UCLA Latinx alumni, and together, ULAA made connections to the wider California Latino university community via Stanford. 

During a normal year, ULAA would throw its yearly Fiesta Gala, the biggest source of scholarship donations through tickets, silent auction, private donations, and corporate sponsorships; however, with Covid-19, this gala has not been feasible. It’s clear nonetheless, that the Latinx Alumni family came together, as Latino families always do, and did whatever they could to make sure that no one was forgotten or left behind, and that they saved some money in the bank. It’s also clear that ULAA will not only recover, but continue to thrive, as they grow their Latinx community in California and across the world.

If you’re interested in joining the UCLA Latino Alumni association, please visit ULAA’s page on the UCLA Alumni site to create an account and subscribe to the newsletter, or follow them on Instagram @LatinoBruins. If you’re interested in donating directly to the scholarship fund, you can do so here. ULAA’s 2021-2022 goal is to raise at least 20K in scholarship funds, with an ultimate goal of growing the endowment fund to $1M. As of August, ULAA had raised $222,420 since inception for its endowment fund; the interest earned on the endowment fund’s balance went to this year’s scholars.