The Movimiento Al Éxito summer pop-up program: The role of testimonio in moving new diasporic Latina/o youth through Iowa history to critical consciousness

ABSTRACT

Al Éxito supports the leadership development, post-secondary education, and civic engagement of Iowa Latina/o¹ youth. In the summer of 2015, it piloted Movimiento Al Éxito, a “pop up” summer program. In this article, we detail the innovative components and curriculum and describe our journey with “new diasporic” Latina/o youth learning about their place in Iowa and developing testimonios which challenge existing narratives. We explain how emergent critical consciousness led to the program’s continuation and expansion the following school year.

KEYWORDS:

• testimonio
• community organization
• summer programming
• critical consciousness
• new diasporic