Confianza for Social Justice: Latina Mothers Becoming Social Justice Educational Leaders

• In Event: Inverting the Leadership Paradigm: Voices of Youth and Parent Leaders for Social Justice

Abstract

Objectives:
This paper analyzes how a grassroots community-based program created spaces of confianza (confidence/trust) to develop social justice leadership among a group of low-income Latina immigrant mothers. The program was called Vamos al kinder (Let’s go to kindergarten) and provided a safe space for mothers to learn about U.S. schools, validate their cultural knowledge, and build leadership skills. This paper explores the role of confianza among a community of mothers in promoting “emergent social justice educational leadership.”

Context, Methods, and Data:
Vamos al kinder is a preschool and parent education program for three- to five-year-old Spanish-speaking children and their parents in Oregon. Since 1990, Oregon’s Latino population has quadrupled, increasing the number of Latino children in Oregon’s schools (22% in 2014) (Lehner, 2010; Oregon Department of Education, 2014; U.S. Census, 2013). In this context, Vamos al kinder aimed to better connect Latino families and schools.

This paper specifically analyzes key activities that the mothers identified built community and confianza among themselves as leaders. This inquiry was part of a larger ethnographic study that spanned 23 months with participant observations in over 100 parent workshops with around 120 families. Research methods included participant observation, home visits, interviews, and document analysis. All research was conducted in Spanish.

Theoretical Framework:
This paper unites research on culturally and linguistically diverse parent leadership (e.g. Cruz, 2008; López, 2001; Olivos, 2006; Valdés, 1996) with theories of social justice leadership, particularly Santamaría’s (2014) theory of “applied critical leadership” (ACL). Although ACL emerged from research with administrators of color, it illuminates the complex cultural interactions and leadership characteristics Latina mother leaders require as they confront racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Uniting this framework with parent leadership research, I define “emergent social justice educational leadership” as a process towards transformational equity, where individuals develop critiques of systemic inequalities present in and around schools towards action and advocacy.

Results:
Vamos al kinder created an environment of confianza (trust) among the participants and staff, as well as confianza en uno mismo (confidence in self). Jasis & Ordoñez-Jasis (2012) emphasized the importance of “a unique, safe place for camaraderie and support, an environment where the participants could speak freely, in confianza (trust/comfort) and where to reconvene” (p. 79). Confianza loosely translates to “trust,” but reflects deep supportive relationships. Vamos al kinder built confianza through 4 key strategies: sustained group participation (30 weeks), dinamicas (warm-up interactive activities), shared reflections and critiques of nuestra cultura (our culture), and sharing testimonials about participants’ lives and struggles as immigrant mothers. These moments allowed the mothers to engage in cross-cultural reflections and critiques of both U.S. education and their own potentially negative school experiences. Creating confidence and trust in oneself and one’s abilities was a critical step in preparing the mothers to encounter U.S. schools as advocates for their children.

Significance:
This study is significant because it documents how authentic educational leadership can be supported and developed among low-income immigrant mothers and the potential of community organizations to bridge cultural divides between families and schools.

Author

• Katherine Rodela, Washington State University