Aloha High School sophomore Ashley Escobar Padilla shares a vision board last month during a Chicas Youth Development Program session. The afterschool and summer program provides support and encouragement for Latina youths. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
The group of teenage girls chatted happily, mostly in Spanish, as they worked on vision boards last month. The table in a softly lit classroom in Beaverton’s Aloha High School held dreams small and big, from getting better at cooking and English to college plans and career goals.
Nobody questioned their aims or their ability. Instead, they received support and encouragement as they participated in the Chicas Youth Development Program after-school session.
Recent statistics suggest the expanding program in Washington County is helping those visions become reality.
The Chicas program is aimed at empowering Latinas from third grade through college. Adelante Mujeres, a nonprofit that focuses on the needs of Latina immigrants, started the Chicas in the Forest Grove School District in 2008. Carina Quintanilla, Chicas program manager, said the mothers in Adelante Mujeres wanted something to help their daughters, who were being marginalized by racism and sexism.
The program serves more than 800 youths and their families in the Beaverton, Hillsboro and Forest Grove school districts, Quintanilla said. Since 2017, the Chicas program has had a 100% graduation rate for participants, she said, roughly 20 percentage points higher than the statewide average for all Latino/Hispanic students.
“The services we are offering are life changing,” Quintanilla said.
The all-female student groups meet weekly as well as go on field trips. The sessions aim to develop leadership potential, encourage balanced lifestyles, strengthen cultural identity, build community and raise academic success with graduation and college in mind.
The Chicas experience includes family communication lessons and parenting workshops. The whole family should be part of a student’s learning, Quintanilla said, but families need tools to support the girls.
Michelle Mena Cardenas, an Aloha sophomore, has been in the Chicas since sixth grade. She said their field trips to Oregon State University and Linfield University have encouraged her to become a nurse. But it’s more than just academics for her.
“The best part is the people you get to meet and the friendships you make,” she said.
Hillsboro School Board Chair Mark Watson said the camaraderie during the sessions is impressive.
“You can tell right away that that they are being successful,” Watson said. “The way they lift each other up in the room is obvious.”
Watson also likes the 100% graduation rate and would like to see the program replicated for other groups.
Last school year, all 23 Beaverton Chicas seniors graduated and enrolled in some sort of college, according to Andrew Robinson, Beaverton assistant administrator for multilingual programs.
“What they do best, and it’s the bedrock of their success, they create a community,” Robinson said.
All the session leaders are bicultural and bilingual so that the girls see someone like them who understands their challenges and has achieved their goals.
Brenda Escalera Acosta, the Chicas facilitator, conducted the Aloha session mostly in Spanish, occasionally switching to English. She meets weekly with three different groups. Each group sets its own comfort level with the mix of Spanish and English, she said.
Escalara, a child of Mexican immigrants, said she tries to be a person the girls can approach with questions and without fear of judgment.
Aloha junior Yara Garcia said through an interpreter that she can participate more in the Chicas activities than in her regular classrooms. The Chicas are helping her improve her English and better understand what is happening in school.
Beaverton is in its eighth year of Chicas with 200 elementary, middle school and high school students enrolled from nine schools. Robinson said some funding comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s Migrant Education Program and some from an English language learners grant.
Robinson said the girls receive a consistent message from the schools and the program that they can achieve their dreams if they work hard.
Aloha senior Michelle Sifuentes Aguilar said a Chicas summer camp trip made her want to go to college. She said the Chicas are now helping her weigh the possibilities and determine how to get there.
Most importantly, the group helps her feel better about herself.
“I feel comfortable being here,” she said. “I feel like I belong.”
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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