Latinx Heritage Month 2020 Celebration Highlights

“You are not lucky to be here. The world needs your perspective. They are lucky to have you.”
-Antonio Tijerino

We are proud to have celebrated the cultures, contributions and resilience of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified communities within KIPP Chicago, our city and around the world all month long! Thank you for all of the collective and individual efforts to ensure that our community made space to commemorate and elevate various aspects of Latinx history, culture, struggle, beauty and excellence.

Through our first ever cross-functional digital campaign, we were able to highlight our incredible staff members, students, thriving community and family partnerships, history, culture and share resources.

After picking up custom designed KIPP Chicago game cards from their schools, families at each of our 8 schools participated in virtual Lotería over the course of 10 days! This is very exciting as it is the first time that we have hosted a regional-wide family engagement opportunity. Our outstanding EL team created engaging bilingual videos with playing card announcements that were shared each day from October 6th – October 16th on our @kippchicago Instagram page.

Throughout the month, so many of you were intentional about creating meaningful learning experiences. We saw Latin inspired dance classes, art projects that introduced Latin countries and their traditional art practices, explorations of Latinx history, and more. Here are just a few highlights across the region:

At KIPP Academy Chicago Primary, students spent time in their visual art and dance classes traveling around the world to learn about Latinx countries and their musical instruments, foods, culture, historic figures and art. Check out this incredible Power Point they created for students!

In Angelica London’s Art class, students learned about and painted the beautiful flags of Latinx nations.

KIPP One and community partner Erie Neighborhood House hosted two live events! The first event was on how to prepare an emergency migratory plan and the second walked through important requirements for applying for public benefits

KIPP Bloom Middle’s Bridget Flores hosted a school-based Lotería night.

We look forward to growing this celebration each year as well as more participation and engagement in November for Native American Heritage Month!

Remember, we are the ones we have been waiting for. Let’s continue to reimagine, dream big and lean into co-creating the cultural reality we want for ourselves and most importantly, our students.

If you would like to support planning for upcoming Heritage and culture celebrations, fill out this survey.