If there’s one person qualified to present to a group of Women United, it’s Aida Hurtado.
Hurtado, an author and social psychologist, will be the featured speaker at the United Way of Ventura County’s Women United 3rd Annual Luncheon, honoring single moms who are pursuing their education. Hurtado holds the Luis Leal Endowed Chair in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCSB. She is a social psychologist whose research focuses on race, class, ethnicity, sexuality and gender, specializing in educational equity for Chicanas/os, Chicana feminist theory, and media representations of Latinos.
She has written a number of books on feminist theory, women’s issues, and Latino educational achievement, including: Voicing Chicana Feminisms: Young Women Speak Out on Sexuality and Identity; The Color of Privilege: Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism. Also, Chicana/o Identity in a Changing U.S. Society: ¿Quién Soy? ¿Quiénes Somos? with Patricia Gurin of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In her upcoming book, Chicana Intersectional Feminisms: Sitios y Lenguas (Spaces and Languaging), Hurtado introduces the field of Chicana feminist analysis.
She is also a member of the Women’s March steering committee and was a featured speaker at the historic Women’s March on Washington in 2017 and 2018.
Before joining the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCSB, Hurtado spent more than 20 years in the psychology department at UC Santa Cruz.
As soon as she learned about the Women United Luncheon and was approached about speaking at the event, she jumped at the opportunity. “I have worked with other organizations, like the Chicana/Latina Foundation out of San Francisco, who give out scholarships to young Latinas, and from their stories and from having attended their events, the testimonials these single moms give are quite striking,” she said. “And it doesn’t have to be a lot of money. Sometimes just a small amount is what gets them over the hump to keep going and continuing their education, so I was immediately attracted to that goal because I knew how effective it can be,” she said.
When Hurtado takes the stage to speak at the luncheon, her message will be focused on the importance of education and providing opportunities for young women to succeed. “In the work I’ve done with young women, education is number one,” she said. “If we can create opportunities that advance their education at the same time that they’re taking care of their children, that is the number one way to get them to a better situation economically, emotionally, psychologically for themselves and for their children.”
Recipients of the Women United Educational Award are single mothers who are completing their associates degree and transferring to a four year university or technical program, and have children under the age of 18 living in the home.
The financial award may be used to offset any costs associated with efforts to attain higher education, including tuition, books, childcare, and transportation.
Women United 3rd Annual Luncheon
Time and Date: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday, May 10
Location: California Lutheran University, Gilbert Sports & Fitness Center
Luncheon Tickets: $100 each. After May 1, 2019, price increases to $125.
Luncheon Tickets are available online at https://vcunitedway.org.
For sponsorship opportunities contact Mitchel Sloan at Mitchel.Sloan@vcunitedway.org
For more, visit https://vcunitedway.org.
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News Date:
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
April 24, 2019 - 1:05pm