UPDATE: ComuniLove Town Hall, Survey (extended deadline) & Next Steps

May 1, 2023

Dearest Comunidad,

We hope everyone is having a great spring and enjoying the incredibly beautiful weather. Thank you to everyone who helped us welcome our undergraduate admits to comunidad and campus for Admit Weekend 2023. Elvira returned from an extended health leave last week and is truly grateful for all the love and beautiful energy she has received in support of her well-being. We will post more open office hours with Elvira and Luna for folks who want to stop by and catch up.

We are also writing to reconnect with everyone regarding an update on our plans for the ComuniLove Town Hall. The spring quarter is moving incredibly fast, and we are truly grateful for the students who have completed the survey we sent out on Tuesday, April 4. However, to date the number of responses is fairly low and we understand how busy the quarter has been for everyone thus far. As such, we want to provide more time for everyone to respond to the survey, and plan to host some smaller focus group conversations before getting together for a town hall. Given the timing of the quarter, and in respect for everyone’s health and capacity, we will extend the survey response time to June 10 and look forward to hosting focus groups and the town hall early next academic year.

We are also writing to provide an update to everyone on our plans for the ComuniLove Town Hall. The spring quarter is moving incredibly fast and we are truly grateful for the students who have completed the survey we sent out on Tuesday, April 4. However, we still need to collect more information as we would like to have a higher response rate. We also understand how busy the quarter has been for everyone. As such, we want to provide more time for everyone to respond to the survey. Based on the feedback we have received; we have decided to host smaller focus group conversations instead of a community-wide town hall. Given the timing of the quarter, and in respect for everyone’s capacity and wellness, we will extend the survey response time to June 10 and look forward to hosting focus groups and follow-up community conversations next academic year.

We also would like to explore holding a lengthier and more involved set of conversations that follow the model and inspiration of peacemaking circles. Such gatherings require a higher level of time and preparation commitment from the participants, as well as an outside facilitator. We foresee something like this happening in the following academic year.

Please do take some time to submit your responses to our survey and encourage your peers to do so as well. We will review the responses and feedback over the summer to help inform our programming and events starting in the Fall. Additionally, the survey responses and focus group conversations will help to inform the themes and ideas we will share out and engage as we continue to envision the future of Centro and our comunidad

Thank you as always for your love and support of each other, our Centro, and our comunidad.

With Love and Best Wishes,

Elvira Prieto, EdM
Associate Dean of Students and Director of El Centro

Margaret Sena, PhD
Assistant Dean of Students and Associate Director for Graduate Student Engagement

Jacob Velasquez, MA
Assistant Director

David Eli P., MA
Special Projects Coordinator