Community Impact
Building a New Generation of Latino Leaders
Nov 18, 2012
For the past 30 years, the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project has focused on shaping Latino youth into California’s future leaders by participating in activities involving the state’s economic, social and political development. Since its inception, more than 3,400 students have gone through the youth organization’s various programs, and more than 90 percent have gone on to attend college.
In 2009, Comcast formed a partnership with the organization to develop the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project Comcast Fellowship Program. In the first year, six students were selected as Comcast Fellows and placed in a four-week fellowship in California state legislative offices. The Comcast Foundation later extended the partnership by investing more than $75,000 over three years to continue the Fellowship Program.
The intensive experience provides students with a training and leadership program developed in partnership with the California State University, Sacramento Center for California Students, the University of California-Sacramento Center, the University of Southern California, the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. The Fellows also benefit from access to and mentorship from elected officials. Students also receive a stipend to continue their college education upon completion of the fellowship.
The program remains the only one of its kind in California to support Latino youth, and has become a model for the development of a similar curriculum to serve LGBT youth in partnership with Equality CA, which graduated its second class of Comcast Fellows in 2012.
