From back left, Salir Adelante participants Carlos Merlos, Ana L. Rojas, and Carlos Merlos-Rojas; back right, Michelle Schott, family well-being county educator; front left, Rosa Gonzalez, family well-being & human sciences program specialist
¡Salir Adelante! teaches Latino youth, parents how to navigate education in the U.S. Una Educación Sobre la Educación
higher education and then watch them discover they have the skills to help their children make a plan for the future. We care about them and their success, and I think they quickly realize that. Survey data from parents and youth support these anecdotal experiences. The data from before and after the six-week program indicate improvements among approximately two- thirds of respondents in the following areas: • youth problem-solving • parent involvement in their youth’s education • family communication Speaking of Extension councils, how do you work with them to make ¡Salir Adelante! a programming priority? We share information about ¡Salir Adelante! and how it works with the statewide Extension council members associ- ation and local Extension staff—in the process, we help them see how ¡Salir Adelante! aligns with the needs and goals of their communities and the ISU Extension and Outreach strategic plan. Many councils are very supportive of ¡Salir Adelante! and have budgeted money to support the pro- gram locally. What have you discovered about how to operate within your team that could make you even more effective program facilitators? We help families learn how to communicate more effective- ly with each other and strengthen youth’s decision-making and problem-solving skills, and we discovered that we had opportunities to hone our own skills in these areas. We have spent time with Karl Bradley, the Extension Foundation’s ➤
Kimberly Greder was at a “¡Salir Adelante!” workshop for Latino youth and their families last year when a parent walked up to her and said, with tears in their eyes, “You did this for us!? Just for Latino families? You don’t want anything in return?”
Share some of your program’s success stories.
After graduating from community college, one of our former participants ended up working for Extension part time as part of the ¡Salir Adelante! program in Muscatine County, Iowa. That student’s mother, who also came to our sessions, has told us that she’d like to be a program facilitator. Because of the work we do to help families realize the many ways to finance postsecondary education—including applying for financial aid and scholarships—another student recently won a soccer scholarship at Grand View University in Des Moines. And some past participants are now members of local Extension youth councils, which help plan youth events and determine what programs to offer in their communities. Our walls are filling up with photographs of our students holding college acceptance letters and certificates. It’s deep- ly gratifying to work with parents who don’t have a history of
The short answer to the parent’s question was “no.” The lon- ger answer was that Greder and her Extension colleagues do want something in return: for Latino youth and their families to realize that they belong in this country’s educa- tional and career system. “All people have the right to pursue their hopes and dreams, and education is the gateway,” she says. That’s why Greder and her colleagues at Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach developed ¡Salir Adelante! Caminos a Nuestro Futuro” (Pathways for our Fu- ture), a program that offers Latino Iowans tools and support to reach their hopes and dreams for education to help their families thrive. Piloted in 2019, ¡Salir Adelante! was developed to increase the number of Latino students in Iowa who graduate from high school and enroll in higher education, making them more likely to be financially secure and live healthier lives. In the last four years, the program has served more than 500 youth and their families with culturally tailored workshops that help youth develop critical thinking skills and decision-making skills and foster parent involvement in their child’s learning.
They also teach families how to communicate with each other. All of these factors are linked to academic success and participation in postsecondary education. Sessions also help participants connect to other families and professionals in the community, learn how to explore college and career options, and find ways to finance higher education. Program leaders say they’re on track to reach 800 youth and families over the next two years. Just as the Juntos program—which was created by North Carolina State University Extension and which has similar goals and has scaled to other states—¡Salir Adelante! can be a framework for other Extension organizations to serve Latino populations in their states. It also can support Exten- sion’s commitment to extend the resources of the land-grant university system to all people, Greder says. In this Q&A, Greder talks about the program’s wins and the lessons she and her team have learned as they’ve refined ¡Salir Adelan- te! and as they have worked with the Extension Foundation as a recipient of a 2022-2023 New Technologies for Ag Extension grant.
Educational Attainment Gap
90.2% LATINO IOWA OVERALL 81.0% High School Graduation Rate
High School Drop Out Rate 2.85% LATINO IOWA OVERALL 4.9%
Post-High School Training 93.3% LATINO IOWA OVERALL 70.3%
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