At Camp Colectiva, immigrant students get a Minnesota summer camp experience

Viviana Fonseca Fuerez had been in Minnesota less than three weeks when she came to pick up her children from summer camp on August 23. Her son and daughter were among a crowd of smiling kids who hopped off a bus at Theodore Wirth Park that afternoon, calling out to their parents, friends and counselors.

Fonseca Fuerez came to Minnesota from Ecuador after a harrowing journey of hours-long bus rides broken up by miles of walking that carried the family through Central America and Mexico to the United States.

“It was terrible, truly,” she said.

She came to Minnesota to join her brother, and quickly plugged into a WhatsApp group chat for newly arrived immigrant parents organized by Colectiva Bilingüe, a joint nonprofit organization for Minneapolis’ five public dual-immersion Spanish language schools, where she learned about the camp.

The group ran its second annual Camp Colectiva this summer in conjunction with The Loppet Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes outdoor activities. The group returned to The Trailhead at Wirth Park from an overnight summer camp experience in Excelsior to close out a week of outdoor activities and bonding as the school year approaches. Some campers had only just arrived in the United States and are preparing to enter a new school in a new country.

Camp Colectiva aims to be a source of fun and community for newly arrived immigrant students in Minneapolis Public Schools. Counselors are older students who have gone through the Spanish-immersion program. It’s a way to help the kids and their families start to feel at home.

“We are going to stay here,” Fonseca Fuerez said of Minneapolis.

Not just for the kids

Colectiva Bilingüe formed in 2020 after Minneapolis Public Schools passed the Comprehensive District Design measure, which sought to reorganize the district to minimize racial inequalities that persisted across the city.

After the redesign, Minneapolis offered Spanish dual-language programs at five schools: Andersen United Middle School, Emerson Elementary, Green Central Elementary, Las Estrellas Elementary, and Roosevelt High. Rather than divide resources among individual schools, parents formed Colectiva Bilingüe to function as a sort of parent-teacher organization, according to Molly Dengler, co-president of the Bilingual Education Collective.

The group applies for grants and uses that money for programming. Camp Colectiva is funded by a No Child Left Inside grant from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Last year, Colectiva Bilingüe partnered with the YMCA to host the camp for about 25 kids. This year, they’ve partnered with The Loppet Foundation, which took 40 kids mountain biking, kayaking, orienteering and swimming. It’s an important step to ensure immigrant families have access to the outdoors and the opportunity to have positive experiences in nature, Dengler said.

The children can enjoy fun activities and meet new friends, and the parents can bond with families in similar situations.

“It’s not just a benefit for the kids,” Dengler said.

The camp launched with a family day where parents were invited to join their children to canoe on the Mississippi River. The middle of the week featured various outdoor activities around The Trailhead at Theodore Wirth Park. On Thursday, the group took a bus to Excelsior for an overnight stay at Camp Fire.

Kaly Quinche said her 11-year-old son enjoyed mountain biking the most.

Making connections

Quinche, like most of the parents gathered at The Trailhead, is from Ecuador. Colectiva Bilingüe is seeing a large influx of Ecuadorian families, Dengler said, which matches Minnesota immigration trends. This year, nearly 90% of campers were Ecuadorian, she said.

Asylum cases originating from Ecuador skyrocketed by 900% in Minnesota’s immigration court in the past five years. The majority of newcomers began arriving in 2022, when conditions in the country began to deteriorate. A group of Minnesota cities, including Columbia Heights, Minneapolis, and St. Paul, have called on the federal government to give Ecuadorians Temporary Protected Status in the United States.

Dengler gathered a group of camper parents together to get to know each other. All were from Ecuador, and most had arrived in Minnesota in the past two years. The assembled parents miss their home nation, and many lamented deteriorating conditions and rising violence that led them to seek a new life in the United States. They miss the climate and the flavorful produce of home, but are making life work here. Quinche met another woman from the same small city, Cayambe, in the Andean highlands north of Quito.

Deysi Malan had two cousins living in Minneapolis when she moved to Minnesota 20 months ago from Quito. Now, most of her family is here.

“There are quite a few of us,” she said.

Her 11-year-old daughter liked swimming at the camp, Malan said. Her daughter attends Las Estrellas in northeast Minneapolis and is happy there. She attended a non-dual immersion school when they arrived and was frustrated with the language gap, Malan said. Now, she’s picking up English and is able to learn in her native language.

2,500 new Spanish-speaking students enrolled in Minneapolis Public Schools last year, and many are not in dual-immersion schools, Dengler said. Dual-immersion schools are facing budget cuts, despite a waitlist at the district’s three Spanish language elementary schools.

The Colectiva Bilingüe WhatsApp group has helped people acclimate to life in Minnesota. Quinche said she’s used the group to find friends and even work opportunities.

“It’s helped us connect with lots of people,” Quinche said.