Bay City News
The Santa Rita Union School District's board in Salinas unanimously agreed this week to extend its after-school program for children speaking Mixteco, an Indigenous language from southern Mexico.
Roughly 30 parents and students came to the meeting Wednesday to urge the board's support.
Summer Prather-Smith, who directs youth and family engagement for the district, explained that its Spanish programming does not adequately serve Indigenous families. For those families, Spanish is a second language while their mother tongue Mixteco is at risk of disappearance.
District officials estimate that more than 60 students participate in the after-school program, learning Mixteco while strengthening their English.
"We speak Mixteco. It's important -- it's good, not bad," said teacher Gabriela Martinez during the meeting.
She said she wished programs like this existed when she was in school to teach her not to be ashamed of her heritage.
"I'm really happy to be able to work with these kids and let them know that it's okay for them to embrace their language and their culture, because they're going to grow up to be citizens within our community," Martinez added through an interpreter.
The Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project, which advocates in Southern California, estimates 170,000 Indigenous migrants live in California. They work mostly in row crop agriculture, the group says on their website. Santa Rita's program could serve as a model for other schools in Monterey County that do not yet offer such services.
A trio of organizers in their mid to late 20s, Centro Binacional Para Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueno, already provided language interpretation to the school. They developed this program after a neighborhood family came to them about the discrimination they faced. Then, in 2022, an Indigenous girl was injured in a non-fatal traffic collision. It galvanized the community, family outreach organizer Maricela Ramirez said.
"A lot of families came together to advocate for the safety of the children," Ramirez said.
She explained that the collision led to meetings over 2023 about how to strengthen and support the Mixteco-speaking Salinas residents.
They started the after-school program in January.
The trio and three teachers will serve students for the 2024-2025 school year, and they said other students in the district have expressed a desire to join. Their next step is expanding to the neighboring city of Greenfield, where they have already begun working with administrators.
Several parents, some with tears on their cheeks, used the word "dream" to describe the program and its impact. They said their children have new confidence in themselves and awareness of their culture since participating in the program.
Carlos Delacruz, an agricultural worker who brought his two daughters, said his long hours working in the field did not allow him enough time to help his children with their studies. The program filled that need.
Many on the board added that this program was a dream for them, too. The board president Sunil Patel said he immigrated as a speaker of a language rare in Salinas: Gujarati, spoken in the western Indian state that bears its name.
"I remember growing up early on and feeling embarrassed, fearful, ashamed. You didn't feel part of society," Patel said. "When I look at the students today, I see courage. I see pride. I see future."
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