Montgomery County is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse counties in the nation, with cities such as Rockville, Germantown, and Gaithersburg being ranked in the top 10 nationwide. For a county and public school system as diverse as Montgomery County, representation is critical.
High school is a person’s most formative year; these are the years in which the realms of self-identity and future goals are explored for many teenagers nationwide. This made it imperative for Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) students to create organizations that can allow students to connect with their heritage and enable them to feel recognized, which is exactly what MoCo Latin Youth does.
MoCo for Latin Youth is a student-led organization with the goal of “Embracing and Empowering Latin Youth in Montgomery County.” 20.1% of Montgomery County residents identify as being of Hispanic or Latino descent.
This was a big contributor to MoCo Latin’s founding, according to MoCo Latin Youth co-founder Darlene Pineda. Pineda explained that MoCo Latin Youth was founded by her and Ashley Castro, two low-income Latin teenagers living in Montgomery County who dreamed of attending college and receiving a higher education. However, they were met with adversity in the form of tuition costs. Their main stressor was how they would get the money for them to make their dreams a reality, and they noticed that this was not only a struggle they faced but one that many MCPS students of Latin American descent faced as well.
Since its founding, MoCo Latin Youth has raised slightly more than $200 and created an e-board of over 40 people to assist with the process of running an organization with publicity. Pineda said, “We have also met amazing people and established good-hearted relationships with United We Dream, Baila4Life, and the school Latin Dance Team [other organizations created by and for Latinos in Montgomery County].”
With these achievements, MoCo Latin Youth has brighter plans for the future, including bringing awareness to the struggles and needs of low-income students to pursue post-secondary education, providing Latino students with scholarships to alleviate some of the financial burdens of going to college as well as internship opportunities, expanding their executive board and having more positions available, having a tutoring system to help primary ESOL students and having a college advisor to help seniors with their college applications.
Several Latinos in Montgomery County are affected by the socioeconomic gap, as they are the second racial or ethnic group in Montgomery County to live below the poverty line. “We believe low-income areas or areas with large populations of FARMS students [students from the DCC (Downcounty Consortium) and NEC (Northeast Consortium)] benefit from our monthly scholarship posts and other opportunities we share on our social media,” MoCo Latin Youth co-founder Ashley Castro said.
Though MoCo LatinYouth has experienced a lot of success with its organization, it has also experienced its fair share of adversity. “Some of the adversities we faced were getting our name out there in the advocacy world.” Some people did not see us as an organization. Another adversity we still face is registering our organization as a non-profit in Maryland so we can host fundraisers with clubs. Right now, we cannot since those fundraisers require tax IDS, etc.,” Castro said.
The tools MoCo Latin Youth provides have already had long-lasting effects on students in MCPS. John F. Kennedy High School junior Gabriella Martnizes-Pozo said, “They are necessary; they help provide opportunities to people who wouldn’t have access to them. All we want is equal opportunities, and MoCo Latin Youth has helped so many people get closer to that by offering financial opportunities for college.”
More information on MoCo Latin, including how to apply and join their efforts, can be found on their Instagram and Linktree.
Article written by Maru Amtataw of John F. Kennedy High School
Photo courtesy of MoCo Latin Youth