As adult Latina/Latino students advanced from a community college to a four-year college, a transition course and mentoring program engaged students and educators in a reciprocal process of change.This chapter explores the experiences of students and educators in "Comenzamos: Latinas/Latinos in Social Work," a transition course and mentoring program for adult Latina/Latino students who were preparing to advance from an urban community college to a four-year college or university. The "Comenzamos (Let' s begin)" course paired adult Latina/Latino social work students with mentors who were themselves Latina/Latino social workers with baccalaureate or master' s degrees. Students perceived the Comenzamos course as a transitional experience for themselves and their families. As they gained confidence in their educational goals, they hoped to raise their families' educational expectations and improve the likelihood that their children would go to college. Similarly, we educators perceived the course as a transitional experience for ourselves and our colleges and universities. In seeking culturally meaningful support for adult Latina/Latino students, we formed new relationships with Latino families and communities, joining with students in a reciprocal process of learning and cultural change.
Millie M. Charles, born on July 25, 1923, is dean of the School of Social Work at Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO). Charles has participated in movements for civil rights and social justice throughout her life. Charles served as a national leader in the development of professional baccalaureate social work education, and she founded the School of Social Work at SUNO, a historically black university, as a resource for professional education and community activism. In this oral narrative, Charles describes her career as a mission for social change.
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