Latino Community Development position eliminated at WSU

Following is an appeal, on behalf of José L. García-Pabón, Ph. D. of Washington State University. Please share this information with others who might also be concerned.

Dear friends and colleagues,

I’m writing this note to you to make you aware that my department, Community and Rural Sociology, at Washington State University will be eliminated as part of the University budget cuts. The elimination of CRS, and consequently the elimination of my position as Latino Community Development specialist is very disturbing to me and my family, but beyond that it will likely have an impact on the Latino community, since once this position is gone, it will likely be permanently gone. That is, nobody at the College of Agriculture, Human and Natural Resources and at WSU Extension will be working with the community and building a WSU Latino program. If I am gone:

1) I won’t be able to continue conducting the trainings and institutes on strategies to better serve the Latino community that are helping WSU Extension educators and many service providers to increase their work with and services to Latinos.

2) I won’t be able to partner with WSU Extension in Franklin and other counties to support and develop programs targeting Latino families (such as the Pathways literacy program in Pasco).

3) I won’t be able to provide information and assistance to Latinos in rural areas and small towns, in particular those involved in agriculture.

4) I won’t be able to partner with nonprofit and community organizations to help them provide more and better services to the Latino community or contribute to Latino-related boards and steering committees (such as the TC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce).

5) I won’t be able to partner with other researchers (WSU and other universities) to conduct culturally appropriate research with the Latino community to better understand the community, its trends, its needs and issues in order to develop effective outreach programs.

6) I won’t be able to help decrease the misunderstandings and stereotypes about Latinos, since I have given many presentations about who we are, what we do, what our contributions are, how diverse Latinos are, etc.

7) I won’t be able to educate WSU students, through guest lectures and campus presentations about issues impacting our community but also about the Latino contribution to economic development.

8) The diversity of WSU and its efforts to reflect the demographics of our state will be reduced.

You can send your reactions or letters back to me or my departmental chair, Ray
Jussaume (rajussaume@wsu.edu) about this situation as soon as you can, due to the short window for comments. Please feel free to forward/share this situation with others.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
Jose

José L. García-Pabón, Ph. D.
Latino Community Development Specialist
and
Assistant Professor in Community and Rural Sociology
Washington State University
509-372-7389