March 17, 2020

Alsame Members and Partners,   

After careful consideration, the Alsame leadership team has decided to cancel the 2020 Alsame Latino Youth Conference scheduled for May 5^th to help the State’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. The College Fair scheduled during the conference is also cancelled and refunds will be processed as soon as it is possible.

We find ourselves in an unprecedented time but we will continue to find ways to advocate for Latino/a/x students in Michigan. The annual conference is Alsame’s largest and most educational event of the year and our team is very grateful to Grand Valley State University’s leadership for helping us organize what we believe would have been an amazing conference.

While canceling the conference has not been an easy decision to make, I am confident it is the correct approach. Among all of the challenges, I am also encouraged to share the following positive news:

• We will immediately begin to plan the 2021 Alsame Conference hosted by Western Michigan University. We look forward to working closely with WMU’s team. A date will be determined in the coming months.
• We will continue to plan to award Alsame scholarships before the end of this school year. More details to come. In the meantime, high school seniors can still apply here: https://alsame.org/scholarships/ 
• Our next Alsame membership meeting will be a conference call on March 25th at 10:00 a.m. A good portion of our time will be open for members to share what they are currently doing in their communities to help Latino/a/x students. We will also discuss COVID-19 challenges and share ideas and suggestions as a means of support. RSVP for the meeting here: https://alsame.org/meetings/

I remain grateful to the Alsame leadership team and to all of those that continue to advocate with and for our Latino/a/x youth.

Sincerely,

Salvador Lopez
Alsame Board Chair
GVSU Associate Director of Diversity Recruitment
616-331-3354| lopezs@alsame.org
www.alsame.org