With programming nearly daily on campus and beyond, the Latino Resource Center continues to build community for NIU’s growing population of Latinx and Hispanic students and engage the campus in cultural resources.
Luis Santos Rivas, director, stands outside the Latino Resource Center.
Known as the LRC, the center serves as a central resource for students. Those behind the programming, as well as those who’ve taken part, say its value extends beyond that.
“Our LRC is your home away from home,” Latino Resource Center Director Luis Santos-Rivas said. “We are looking for the students to feel like they belong and are comfortable here in the center.”
With NIU poised to become a Hispanic-Serving Institute (HSI), the LRC has worked to expand retention efforts and its programming to host even more events.
Latinx students now represent 25% of NIU’s full-time equivalent undergraduate population. This places the university on a trajectory to be fully designated as an HSI, which demonstrates NIU’s continued efforts toward access and equity outcomes. The HSI designation will enhance intentionally serving the campus community and provide more opportunities for students, faculty, staff and alumni resources, including federal funding.
NIU’s approach to HSI involves bolstering the institutional culture through an approach known as servingness. For NIU, the emphasis is on providing all students from all walks of life with resources and opportunities to enhance their experience on campus and help them succeed.
With a full calendar of events and outreach efforts, the LRC is doing its part.
“The Latino Resource Center never stops working for students,” Santos-Rivas said. “We have year-round events.”
Those events feature a mix of new programming and old favorites—all imbued with the passion of Latin culture.
Among the variety of ongoing events are:
- The discussion series Café con Leche-Words vs Actions. The next discussion on Feb. 26 will feature the theme of “How do you challenge colorosim? Colorism, even in BIPOC communities, is present in many ways overtly or covertly; Latinoamerica is no exception. How/are you navigating conversation with our families or friends while bridging cultural differences?
- METAS Presents workshop series. On Feb. 27, the topic is Resume 101, with the presentation led by Career Services.
- Game nights with prizes. Loteria Game Night will be held March 21.
On March 30, the LRC will host Women’s Empowerment Conference: Breaking Barriers in Community. The event aims to provide women of color with personal and professional development and the importance of maintaining their cultural heritage and well-being. Attendees are asked to register by March 15 at go.niu.edu/LRC-WomensEmpowerment.
A unit of the Academic Diversity Equity and Inclusion (ADEI), the LRC partners with programs across campus and beyond to facilitate internships and community service projects and introduce Huskies to student organizations and other opportunities to develop leadership and career skills.
Those partnerships also have led to cultural attractions and events for everyone, such as an annual Latino cultural display at the DeKalb County Public Library and a Latino night in the dining halls once a semester, featuring the food and music of different countries.
“We are always programming,” LRC Assistant Director Elbia Del Llano Menendez said. “We want to have something from all Latin American countries and cultures. We have different countries we highlight and different events throughout the semester, but being able to have our students feel that home away from home is at the forefront of everything we do.”
Making it happen at Maker’s Market
Among newer additions the past couple years, a recent Maker’s Market added an entrepreneurial twist to the LRC’s annual Welcome Back Brunch. Similar to the LRC’s Latin Chill kick-off event hosted in the fall, the Welcome Back Brunch serves as a way to both welcome students with resources and provide exposure for NIU’s many student organizations.
The event’s food, camaraderie and resources always draw a crowd, but the addition of a Maker’s Market provided even more incentive for students to attend.
The event grew out of a suggestion two years ago by NIU alum Gabriel Gavino-DaCosta, who graduated in December of 2023 with a degree in engineering. A student at the time, Gavino-DaCosta created a side business called the Moon Club. Originally focusing on the sale of posters, the business is now a production and marketing agency.
At NIU, Gavino-DaCosta enjoyed attending LRC events and utilizing the center’s study and lounge areas. Located at 515 Garden Road, the center shares its physical space with the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies (CLLAS).
“Any question you have with navigating college, the people working there can help you,” Gavino-DaCosta said. “If you also want a place to study by yourself, somewhere quieter and a bit more homey, the Latino Resource Center has that for students as well.”
When he approached the LRC about opportunities for students to market their small business or artistry projects, Gavino-DaCosta was selling his posters out of pop-up tents. The Welcome Back Brunch seemed liked an ideal opportunity.
“The Welcome Back Brunch plus the Maker’s Market was born,” Del Llano Menendez said. “Once we opened it up for him, we opened it for all students to have a table. It was very successful. They set up their little shops, and they were also able to give out sites and social media handles to expand their businesses.”
In the past two years, the event has featured the works of numerous entrepreneurial students—everything from paintings and art prints to crochet crafts to T-Shirts and hoodies to poetry books and live poetry performances.
Art Education major Stephanie Romero of Rockford crochets crafts and sold out one of her products, homemade keychains, at the event.
The Rock Valley College transfer student heard about the Maker’s Market on the LRC’s Instagram account @niu_lrc and has enjoyed more events hosted by the center.
“I honestly feel very included,” she said. “It does a lot for our community in creating that sense of community. That’s one of the reasons I transferred to NIU because I knew there was a lot of diversity, and I knew there would be people like me.”
