This is the English translation of a post that was originally published in Spanish on Friday, September 2, 2022.
The Alce su voz team is excited to announce two grants to support our projects! In this post, we present the purpose of the projects and we invite you to collaborate with us.
The first project has to do with civic engagement among Spanish speakers in Kansas. What is civic engagement? On one hand, it includes efforts to get out the vote and get involved in the electoral process; on the other hand, it also includes different ways to speak out (like the name of our organization!): share your testimony with elected officials, either out loud or in a letter or a social media post, participate in local government meetings, and many other ways to connect with the community.
The Kansas Health Foundation has granted 75 thousand dollars to Wichita State University in the name of Alce su voz for support of civic engagement in Spanish-speaking communities in Kansas. We are going to start the project with a community education workshop at the Evergreen Community Center & Library on October 8 (a Saturday). Food will be served at 10:30am, and the workshop will be from 11 to 12:30. Registered participants who stay for the whole workshop will receive a gift card! You can register here.
The second project is about COVID-19 vaccines for people in Kansas from Guatemala who speak indigenous languages (like, for example, Ki’che’, a Mayan language). This demographic group has had a low vaccination rate because it faces many barriers, including language barriers. We are going to start with trainings with Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), a women-led organization that brings visibility and resources to migrant indigenous communities.
Alce su voz is also going to receive a 250 thousand dollar grant from the Increase the Reach program for its vaccine equity project for indigenous communities from Guatemala in Kansas. The funds are from a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which was given to the state of Kansas.
If you would like to learn more about these projects and how you can get involved, you can meet up with the Alce su voz team in an informal meeting next Saturday, September 10 at Connie’s Mexico Café. It’s free and everyone is invited. There will be pan dulce from Juarez Bakery and coffee from Scooters. Go to this page to RSVP.
