Empower Students and Help Send Them to NACCS!!!

Hello Friends, supporters, and members of the community!

We are a group of first-generation, low-income Chicana/o/x students and scholars currently attending the University of California, Santa Cruz. With a deep passion for learning, educating, and advocating for our communities and empowering our cultural identities, we have gotten the incredible opportunity to attend the 50th Annual NACCS Conference (National Association for Chicana & Chicano Studies) in Albuquerque, New Mexico!

For many of us, this is the first time attending a national academic conference, and for most, this is going to be the first time that we are even leaving the state of California. Having the opportunity to go to the conference is an experience that will not only help shape our educational journey but also strengthen our connection to our roots and the broader Chicana/o/x movement.

Since its inception, NACCS has encouraged research, which is critical and reaffirms the political actualization of Chicanas/os/xs. NACCS rejects mainstream research, which promotes an integrationist perspective that emphasizes consensus, assimilation, and legitimization of societal institutions. NACCS promotes research that directly confronts structures of inequality based on class, race, and gender privileges in U.S. society. NACCS stages an annual national conference, which attracts 500 to 800 participants to listen to over eighty-five presenters on a variety of topics that affect the Chicana/o/x community.

As first-generation students, many of us have been forced to navigate the educational system without role models who truly understand and share the same backgrounds as us. NACCS represents what we have been searching for: a community that affirms our identities, our struggles, and our aspirations. This is a huge opportunity to be in a space where we can learn from those who have paved the way for the Chicana/o/x Movement, where we can learn to inspire and uplift others as we bring it back to our community at UCSC.

Unfortunately, while we were invited to attend the conference, we still have to pay for most of the expenses such as the costs of flights, hotels, transportation, food, and conference registration fees. While we are currently planning on 7 people going in total, all of the students that are going are first-generation, low-income students and have little to no financial support. This is why we are reaching out to the community to get help in accomplishing the goal of bringing at least 7 students to the conference.

The money that we are fundraising for this conference to send at least 7 scholars to NACCS will be going to:

1) Hotels costing around $200/night (2 rooms x 4 nights, total = $1600) + Hotel to stay at on the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico $100 = about ($1700)

2) Gas for cars = around $600 (2 cars)

3) The cost of the basic memberships being $30/person (Total = $210)

4) Food expenses $70/person (Total = about $490)

While our goal is to raise $3,000 and make this trip a reality we want to try and go above to hopefully bring other scholars with us! But in the unfortunate case that we cannot afford to reach the goal then some people might end up missing out on this opportunity.

No matter the amount, your donation will help us break the financial barriers that prevent first-generation, low-income scholars from accessing these life-changing opportunities.

Please consider donating and sharing our campaign on social media, through reposting, sharing, or even through word of mouth. Your support will help us take what we learn and bring it back to the community of Santa Cruz, helping us to push positive change in our communities!

Thank you for your donations! Your help and generosity mean the world to us!

David C.