Growing Empowered Minds in Spanish is a nonprofit initiative to support students of African descent learning Spanish in Dual Immersion Academic Programs.

We aim to support students outside of the classroom with opportunities in our community and, lastly, during the summer in an immersive experience.

Who I Am:

My name is Sophina Jones! I am the parent lead of the parent affinity at my children’s school. I work hard to build pride in bilingualism for our African American students in our school community. I support the school with cultural assemblies, such as Latinx History Month, Kwanzaa, Black History, talent shows, and my pride and joy is Black Graduation.

As a parent, I understand the language our children are learning isn’t spoken at home, and there is a need to build language development where parents can't.

Our Students:

This 2nd cohort is small but mighty. Returning, we have our now 11th grader, 8th grader, and 3rd graders. All of the students have been learning Spanish since kindergarten and have gone through Dual Immersion Schools.

Photo: Shavon, 11th grader at BHS. Spanish Speaker since kindergarten and is fluent speaker. This experience will help her continue to develop language and grow in grammar. She is also apart of the Firefighter program.

Sovonnah: is in 3rd grade at Sylvia Mendez. She loves her friends and dancing and singing. She enjoys adventures. Sovonnah has been learning Spanish since pre-school she developed skills quickly. She struggles with literacy, but is growing everyday.

Students will be ambassadors for our trip, leaders in our community to experience and immerse in Spanish culture, creating connections with Spanish and the African Diaspora.

Memphis: is in 3rd grade first she is shy to most people but once you get to know her is a spit fire. She opens up slowly like butterfly wings. She refuses to be left out. This characteristic makes her push herself to try new adventures even when it’s completely frightening. This trait also makes her fight to be on level with many of her classmates in school. Spanish did not come easy and this is why continuing with immersion is so important.

Sophiana: 8th grader at LMS, rising to 9th at BHS, she loves to dance and twirl. She lacks the confidence in her language development. She’s expressed academic Spanish is the hardest and often feels frustrated. Continuing language aquisition for her is so important especislly when she struggles.

Our Trip:

We will be going to Limón, Costa Rica , the Caribbean side of the country. We hope to explore the Afro-Latino community. We will be guided by the amazing Jessie Feliz (Jessie Feliz Travels). We will have daily Spanish lessons and exploration in the Limón province, while also visiting a local school and students who we will be writing letters to. Our hope is to continue the journey of educational inclusion through language.

Our Need:

This is our 2nd cohort of students. All donations will go to achieve and fundraise for the support of the 4 African American students to continue to learn Spanish and to immerse in language in the Caribbean of Costa Rica.

Your contribution will assist the brave families who believe in the need to continue academic language development for their child through immersion. It will help to create lifelong memories. The ambassadors will visit sites that will teach us about Afro-Latino history and the contributions from our ancestors. Your support for our students in this immersion experience would help cover the cost per student for travel, which is $3,400 for room and board.

We need your help to fund this effort. 100% of all funds go directly toward the student's cost.

Please donate what you can and share this campaign with friends and family. Together we can!

We will be filming and photographing to be able to share our learnings with our community upon our return.

Cost: $3,400 per person

Total: $11,025

4 students, 1 adult

Travel Agent: Jessie Feliz Travels

Trip Name: Afro-Costa Rican

Includes: Flight, hotel, food, transfers, and personal tour guide

Deadline: Help us meet our May 1st deadline

Help us Grow: If you have an African-descended child learning Spanish in a duel-enrollment program and are interested in joining our trip or trips in the future, please reach out to Growing Empowered Minds in Spanish

Update: we are more then half way to our goal