Annual Partners in Excellence Latino Regional Conference

CONFERENCE THEME:

YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE
FREE TO THE PUBLIC!!!

Targeted for Puerto Rico/Latino students who want to be enrolled in a University.

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE!!!!

Saturday, May 24, 2008
9:00 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M.

Oasis Center for Hispanic Outreach

Oasis UMC

316 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue

Pleasantville, NJ 08232

Conference Presented by:

The Atlantic County Puerto Rican Parade
P.O. Box 1503, Atlantic City, NJ 08404
(609) 226-8183 acprp@hotmail.com or yvettesoto@hotmail.com

Yvette Soto, President & Conference Organizer

University of Puerto Rico
University of Puerto Rico – Colegio de Mayagüez

Sagrado Corazon University

Atlantic Cape Community College

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

New Jersey State Police

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CALL (609) 226-8183.

FREE TO THE PUBLIC – LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED!!!!

May 8, 2008

Dear Friends:

On April 7, 2006, the Atlantic County Puerto Rican Parade hosted their 1st Annual Partners in Excellence Latino Regional Conference. The conference was a success. We had representatives from 19 different Latino organizations who want to unite to work together with the purpose of educating the community as well as ourselves in establishing a plan for the betterment of our Hispanic communities throughout the region. As part of this conference, our Youth Advisory Council was created with the purpose of mentoring and encouraging Latino youth to become college students and pursuing careers in different fields. Another part of the Youth Advisory Council is to start developing children and youth initiatives for the community.

One new program that the Atlantic County Puerto Rican Parade Youth Advisory Council has established is the Scholarship Program to assist students who are starting college or who are already college students.

As part of the YAC Scholarship Program, we will be hosting a University Conference for interested Puerto Rican/Latino students who wish to obtain their education in Puerto Rico or in the Mainland. This conference will be taking place on Saturday, May 24, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Oasis Center for Hispanic Outreach, 316 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Pleasantville, New Jersey. The expected attendance is 200 individuals composed of students, parents, community leaders and universities’ representatives. We invite you to make history by becoming part of this prestigious program and sponsoring our project.

The Youth Advisory Council Scholarship Program will offer students the following objectives:

1) Have the student study in one of the Universities of Puerto Rico.

2) The ACPRP Youth Advisory Council will oversee and record each of the student’s performance, by having continuous communication with the University and with representatives of the YAC.

3) The students selected will learn about their Puerto Rican culture, customs and history.

4) Students can pay for their education for the first year and will receive a scholarship for the first year of study and for the second year and beyond, they will be given the option to become a resident of Puerto Rico and receive the assistance of Free Application for Free Student Aid (FAFSA).

5) As a minimum, a student will have to acquire a Bachelor’s Degree. If desired, the student can continue with a Master’s and Doctorate degrees.

6) Each of the students selected will be responsible for recording their experiences through essays and journals. The following documents will be used for the evaluation of the YAC program and for future documents.

7) Once the students obtain their education, they will serve as role models to the community and to other students.

On November 2007, the Atlantic County Puerto Rican Parade Youth Advisory Council met with universities in Puerto Rico to discuss ways on how we can send our Puerto Rican/Latino students to go to attend the higher education institutions in Puerto Rico, as a way to have them identify themselves with their culture, roots, heritage and customs. The Universities of Puerto Rico accepted our program in a positive manner and agreed to be part of our University Conference this coming May.

So far we have (3) students enrolled in Universities from our program, (2) are students in the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico, one in Business Administration major and the second is a medical science major. The third student is enrolled to begin in Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey, where he wants to obtain a nursing degree.

We thank you in advance for considering funding our proposal. Feel free to contact me at (609) 226-8183 if you need additional information.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Yvette Soto
ACPRP President

(Photos taken by Rodrigo Londono from el Sol Newspaper)