The New England HSI Movement

Let’s welcome New England to the mic! In this episode we learn about the HSI Movement taking place in Massachusetts and across the New England region. Our guests include Dra. Elisa Castillo, the Assistant Vice President of Hispanic and Minority Serving Initiatives at Salem State University, and Julissa Colón, the Founding Director of El Centro at Holyoke Community College. These mujeres are fierce and claiming their role as leaders in the HSI movement. They describe the New England Hispanic and Minority Serving Institution Conference which was funded by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Education and talk about the many ways the state is supporting their HSI efforts. Elisa shares the journey of Salem State, an emerging HSI that has laid out a “Roadmap to Servingness” while Julissa contrasts that with the story of Holyoke Community College, one of the first HSIs in the Massachusetts with a longer history of servingness. They talk extensively about the unique identities of the Latines they serve including Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Brazillians and describe the need for Caribbean-specific servingness (think, Bad Bunny, Portuguese, and mofongo). The energy in this episode is high and the knowledge-sharing is abundant. Wepa!

Guests: 

Elisa Castillo (she/her/ella)

Assistant Vice President for Hispanic and Minority Serving Initiatives, Salem State University

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisa-castillo-phd-9192384 

Julissa I. Colón (she/her)

Director, El Centro, Holyoke Community College

Facebook: Julissa Colon | Instagram: @jewelsjuliecolon | 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julissa-colón-mpa-9b50981bb/

APA Citation 

Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2024, November 3).  The New England HSI Movement (No.507) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/podcast

Attachments / Show notes: 

• https://www.salemstate.edu/hsi
• https://www.salemstate.edu/hsiconference
• https://www.salemstate.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/The%20SSU%20Roadmap%20to%20Servingness_10_23_WEB.pdf 
• https://www.hcc.edu/courses-and-programs/academic-support/el-centro
• https://www.masslive.com/news/2023/09/julissa-colon-helps-latinx-students-succeed-at-holyoke-community-college.html 
• https://www.hcc.edu/about/news-events-and-media/news-stories/julissa-colon