Longest partnership

The Colorado LDZ has been co-sponsored by Colorado State University and the National Hispanic Institute since 1989 and is the longest partnership in program history. “We have a long and incredible history in working with Colorado State to develop Latino leaders,” said Nicole Nieto, NHI’s executive vice president. “We’re grateful to the university for all it’s done and all it continues to do.”

NHI reports that 98 percent of its students enter college, and 90 percent receive college degrees within five years. But the program is focused on much more than higher education, treating college as only one step towards principled leadership thinking about the Latino community and the development of its assets.

Immersive-disruptive learning

It’s a forward-looking program that NHI President and Founder Ernesto Nieto has said is geared toward what communities throughout the Americas will need in the decades to come. NHI has developed the concept of immersive-disruptive learning — a self-directed, student-centered learning method that encourages critical thinking and challenges society’s assumptions and conventions — to provide both a complement and contrast to the education students experience during the school year.

“For 40 years, NHI has challenged Latino students to fulfill their potential as leaders, to make their communities self-sustaining, and to honor their history and heritage as part of their measure of success,” Nieto said.

While some NHI alumni have gone on to high-profile political leadership positions — including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Xochitl Torres Small, two members of the 2019 U.S. Congress freshman class — many choose to lead as business professionals, educators, entrepreneurs and members of the nonprofit sector.

‘Governance’ theme

The LDZ introduces students to core NHI concepts and helps them develop collaboration and public policy skills. All of this year’s programs will focus on the idea of governance. Governance — not to be confused with government or governing — is the process of having a voice and role in the rulemaking of a body. While it does exist in government, it also exists in companies, on boards and even in families. Nieto believes it’s vital for young Latinos to familiarize themselves with the concept of governance as they make more opportunities for themselves to lead.

“We’ve reached the time and place in our history as a Latino community, particularly due to the growth in our population, our increased rates of graduation from college, our growing professional sectors, that we are now in the position to have greater presence at the governance levels of society,” he said. “I think it’s important for young people going into this new era to have a core concept of what governance means.”

For more information about NHI, its programs, and its new path for developing leaders, visit www.nationalhispanicinstitute.org/. Questions can be directed to Connie Jaime-Lujan at Connie.Jaime-Lujan@colostate.edu.