outreach initiatives

Under the direction of Outreach Coordinator José Torrealba, who joined the Center in 2006, CLACS has consistently worked to bridge its academic mission within Brown University to the greater community of Latin America-focused organizations in Rhode Island, greater New England and the world. Currently, the center maintains ties with language departments in local schools, many local businesses and Hispanic, Portuguese and Latino service and cultural organizations in the community. Additionally, CLACS supports the research of professors and students engaged in Latin American-related research outside of the Brown community. Below are a sampling of the outreach organizations and projects which the Center supports:

Bracero History Project

Elementary and Secondary Education

Brown’s outreach to K-12 students incorporates a variety of programs, workshops, research and pedagogical assistance, teacher training, and activities designed specifically for Latino students in Providence-area schools.

  • Brazilian Culture Summer Institute
  • The CHOICES for the 21st Century Program, housed at the Watson Institute for International Studies, provides directed training for public school teachers. This program  has produced three teachers’ manuals and student workbooks on Latin America-related topics, which were recently translated from English to Spanish.
  • Brown’s Education Alliance provides technical assistance, research, and evaluation services to over 100 school systems with significant numbers of students from Latin America.
  • The Haitian Exchange Program connects Brown University students with an interest in Haiti with the Haitian community in Providence. Under this new initiative, undergraduates studying Haitian Creole tutor Haitian students from Hope High School.

Film Festivals

For the past two years, CLACS Outreach Coordinator Jose Torrealba has been the executive director of the New England Festival of Ibero-American Cinema. NEFIAC will showcase films as well as visual art exhibits with painting by Cuban artist Reynier Ferrer in collaboration with the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. NEFIAC 2011 will also hold panel discussions with students, academics, and industry professionals as part of its program.

                               

Featuring works by

     

Reynier Ferrer                                                                Luis G. Fernandez (Lugufelo)

 

Mesolore

Created by CLACS Assistant Professor of Research Liza Bakewell, the Mesolore Project centers  on the research and pedagogy of Mesoamerican pictorial manuscripts and attempts to bridge these manuscripts to contemporary contexts by providing rich interactive primary source documents for scholarly research and interactive teaching. The Mesolore Cyber Center, a free database of Mesolore content, will soon be available to the public; the project is currently available on CD-ROM.

Other Initiatives

CLACS is constantly working to establish new ties with community organizations, academic programs and projects. If you have an interest in collaborating with the Center, please contact Outreach Coordinator José Torrealba at Jose_Torrealba@brown.edu.