Let's Empower Houston's Youth

The Emerging Latino Leaders (ELL) Fellowship was created through a collaboration between Rice University and Mi Familia Vota—a non-profit, non-partisan, national organization dedicated to increasing Latino civic engagement. Our mission is to educate and empower the next generation of Houston’s civic leaders. We aim to bring together talented and engaged Latino students from across the city for a day-long youth summit where we will hold workshops on leadership development and discuss issues affecting the Latino community.

After the youth summit is over, fellows will take charge of their own community service projects (e.g., voter registration drive, walk to the ballot, issue advocacy). Over the course of the summer and fall, members from Mi Familia Vota will meet with the fellows on a regular basis to provide necessary support and guidance in order to make sure that the projects are completed.

We believe this is an excellent opportunity for aspiring Latino students to develop their leadership capabilities as well as to become more involved in their local communities. Moreover, the ELL experience provides excellent resume-building opportunities so as to help these fellows apply for further education and work. Lastly, the ELL program is designed to create an alumni network of like-minded and civically engaged Latinos that will continue to grow over the following years.

We hope you can assist us making this pilot program a success by donating what you can to this effort. Thank you.