Youth Leadership Activities

The Migrant Education Program supports a variety of activities that provide experience and training to our youth. Our goal is to prepare them to be successful students and citizens, and to open their eyes to the many choices and opportunities that are available to them.

Selected students apply and interview for the opportunity to attend either a month-long or a week-long residential program sponsored by the State Migrant Education Program. The UCLA Statewide Migrant Student Leadership Institute provides a one-month program for qualifying migrant students in the eleventh grade. During this period students live in the dorms, participate in leadership training, take a couple of courses, and meet students from across the state. The one-week program offers a condensed version of the month-long program and is aimed at migrant tenth graders. The intent of both programs is to provide participants with a glimpse of university life, and at the same time develop student leadership skills and promote higher education as a goal for migrant students.

College Field Trips
Migrant high school students are given the opportunity to visit many different colleges and universities throughout the state such as Sonoma, Fresno, Sacramento, San Jose, Bakersfield, USLA, UC Berkley, Peperdine and National Hispanic University.

The Migrant Students Leadership Conference at CSU Sacramento is a residential program aimed at ninth and tenth grade migrant students from San Joaquin and Contra Costa Counties. Students spend one week on campus in the university dorms participating in leadership workshops and presentations. Participants in this program are exposed to the state government system, and they learn to develop action plans for both themselves and the community. Students are taught the importance of getting involved in their communities in order to bring about positive changes. The goal of this training is to promote leadership skills, self-esteem, community involvement and higher education.

Finally, hundreds of youth from San Joaquin and Contra Costa Counties attend the Migrant Youth Leadership Conferences held at Delta College and UOP each year.

Many migrant youth in our region take advantage of the leadership activities made available to them, and their horizons become wider and their opportunities greater as a result.