The Cisneros Hispanic Leadership Institute, which houses a program providing financial, academic and social support for about 40 Hispanic and Latino students, celebrated its 10-year anniversary this month.
The institute offers the Caminos al Futuro program for rising high school seniors — comprised of workshops and lectures on social, economic and political issues affecting the Hispanic and Latino community — and the Cisneros Scholars, a program which supports GW students from these backgrounds in achieving academic and professional success. Students who are members of the institute say it has fostered a strong sense of community among Hispanic and Latino students at GW, allowing them to connect in a space with individuals who have familiar experiences in the “unfamiliar” college environment.
GW founded the institute in 2015 following a donation of $7 million from GW alum and California Congressman Gil Cisneros and began accepting students into its high school summer program starting in summer 2016.
During the institute’s opening ceremony in April 2016, Cisneros said he felt “lucky” to attend college and had seen many of his Hispanic and Latino peers not attend college or drop out. He said the institute would help increase diversity at GW and encourage Hispanic and Latino students to be more involved on campus.
“It’s going to bring in students who bring in different perspectives from different parts of the country,” Cisneros said at the 2016 ceremony.
Cisneros, who graduated from GW in 1994, would later go on to be elected to Congress in 2018, representing California’s 39th district for two years before losing his reelection campaign. He served in President Joe Biden’s cabinet as his Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and has been the representative for California’s 31st district since January.
When prospective students apply to GW, they can select to be considered for the Cisneros Scholars program. At GW, a rotating group of three Cisneros Scholars will be offered to live in Casa Cisneros, a living and learning community located in Foggy Bottom, where gatherings and activities for all cohorts of Cisneros Scholars are hosted.
Students in the program receive financial aid and special opportunities to intern at Vanguard Communications, a D.C.-based communications firm, through the Comunicadores for the Future internship program at the institute.
The institute’s Cisneros Scholars had its inaugural cohort graduate in 2020, and since then has had around 10 students in each graduating class.
Claire Avalos, a rising junior majoring in political science, said she first discovered the Cisneros Institute when she participated in the Caminos al Futuro program, the summer program for rising high school seniors. She said her time at the three-week summer program “reaffirmed” her identity as a Latina in a predominantly white high school.
“This program offered by Cisneros showed me that attending college was possible for someone like me and equipped me with the knowledge on how to excel beyond the program,” Avalos said in a message.
Avalos said she has already received “so much” from the Cisneros Scholars program in her first two years at GW, including through a professional development course all Cisneros Scholars had to take, meeting Hispanic and Latino community leaders and interning at a non-profit and Congress.
She also said Cisneros has provided her with a “strong, tight-knit” community, which she said she didn’t know how she would have entered college without.
“I have met some of my closest friends at the Institute and have gained incredible mentors there as well,” Avalaos said. “It has provided me the stability and confidence I definitely needed coming across the country to a very unfamiliar environment compared to home.”
Avalos said Cisneros Scholars gave her friends and mentors that understood her life experiences as a Latina. She said the program is “essential” to her success as a Latina at GW and is “special” to her.
“While I am very driven, the Institute has empowered me beyond words in every facet of my life,” Avalos said. “I know that as a Cisneros Scholar, I am more than ready to navigate my career after graduation and continue to be a changemaker for the Latino community.”
Mia Portillo, a rising sophomore majoring in political science, said she applied to GW specifically because of the Cisneros Institute. She said as a Latina, she wanted to be in touch with her culture and prepare herself to make a difference in her community, adding Cisneros was the “best decision” for her to make an impact in her community.
“I recognized that this program was unique to this University, and I realized how special of an opportunity it would be to become part of such an innovative community,” Portillo said in a message.
Portillo said the institute is committed to research and understanding how to support the Latino and Hispanic community, which she has become involved with firsthand.
“The institute truly works towards cultivating the next generation of changemakers within their communities,” Portillo said. “We are asked to discuss and develop ideas and movements that may challenge the status quo and advocate for those who cannot.”
Portillo said she was “terrified” of having difficulty finding her place at GW so far from her home in Colorado, but the Cisneros Institute has “completely changed” that for her because it has provided her the opportunity to share cultural, personal, academic and other experiences within its “families.”
“Cisneros has already changed my life in such drastic ways, and I am incredibly thankful to not only be part of this program, but a part of a family,” Portillo said.
Rick Tzompa-Chimal, a rising sophomore majoring in international affairs, said he didn’t know much about the institute or the Cisneros Scholars program until after his acceptance. He said when he was accepted into GW and the program, he chose to join because it offered support and community through connections with Cisneros Scholars in upper classes.
“There is financial support for attending GW but also providing a community of students who prioritize and who have helped the Latino and Hispanic community,” Tzompa-Chimal said.
Tzompa-Chimal said the program has provided a community of fellow Hispanic and Latino students on campus and has brought him some of his “closest friends.” He said the program asks him to be a student that will learn about and work to improve the communities he’s a part of.
“I think how it’s changed my experience is finding a community of not just Hispanic and Latino people on campus, but also finding a home away from home,” Tzompa-Chimal said.
Tzompa-Chimal said the program builds connections with students in different graduating classes, including through their Mentor Familias program, which partners incoming first-year Cisneros Scholars with mentors who are rising sophomores in the program.
He also said the program’s townhouse on G Street also provides a central location for the program, and during the start of the academic year, the Cisneros Institute offers events, like picnics, to bring different cohorts together.
“So it’s both the events and programming — they have these mentor, mentee connections — but also the physical building itself is all important to building that connection so that there is a lot of communicating,” Tzompa-Chimal said.
