History
In June of 1987, Olga Arenivar, Cecilia Alvarado Kuster, Betty Cotton, Irma Alvarez and Sharon Yaap met at the Great Teachers Seminar in Santa Barbara and shared their concern about the underrepresentation of Latinas at that event and throughout the California Community College system.
Recognizing that the representation of Latinas in higher education was not improving, that Latina-sensitive staff development programs were desperately needed, and that Latina students were not being prepared for successful employment in the changing California job market, these women decided to act.
These five women decided to convene a conference to develop Latina leadership in the California Community Colleges and to expand the number of Latinas throughout the system. Nine months later, the organizing committee had doubled in size. With the assistance of a small Fund for the Improvement of Instruction grant, the conference, Hispanic Women: The Untapped Leadership Resource, was held. Participants in this highly praised event identified issues impeding Latina leadership and proposed strategies for addressing those issues.
