Conference on Gender, Families,
and Latino Immigration in Oregon

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May 22-23, 2008

All Events Free and Open to the Public - No registration required. Come early for a seat.
Doors open at 6:40 p.m. on May 22 and at 8:30 a.m. on May 23.

There will be interpreters for English to Spanish and Spanish to English.

Click here for Parking Information

Click here for Program in Spanish - Click here for poster in English ----- Click here for poster in Spanish

Thursday May 22  •  Room 175 - Knight Law Center

7-8:45 p.m Community Forum

Myths and Facts about Immigration: Gender, Youth, and Family Perspectives

Santiago Ventura (Oregon Law Center)
Patricia Cortez (Juventud FACETA)
Odilia Romero (FIOB, Los Angeles)
Edward M. Olivos (University of Oregon)

8:45-9:15 p.m Special Presentation

Presentation of the Labor Education Research Center's (LERC) report, "The Immigrant Experience in Oregon."

Friday May 23, 2008 - Knight Law Center

8:30-9 a.m. • Conference materials handed out - Foyer near room 175

9 a.m. • Welcome - room 175

9:15–10:45 a.m. • Plenary Panel • room 175

Building Alliances for Immigrant Rights — presentation of "Building Alliances: Collaboration between CAUSA and the Rural Organizing Project (ROP)," a collaborative ethnography.

Ramón Ramírez (PCUN/CAUSA)
Jonathan Fox (UC Santa Cruz)
Marcy Westerling (ROP)
Amparo Hoffmann-Pinilla (NYU)

11–12:30 p.m. • Three concurrent panels

I. Youth and Education  - Room 142
Panel organizers: Ken Neubeck and Martha Martinez

This panel will discuss pressing issues for youth who are immigrants or children of immigrant parents, and the implications of these issues for Oregon's education system. Such issues include the Dream Act, equal access to education, the "Achievement Gap" as it pertains to Latinos, lack of services for immigrant girls, connection with elders, and English language acquisition, bilingualism, and the loss of Spanish in the U.S."

Speakers
Charles Martinez (UO School of Education, Institutional Equity and Diversity)
Carmen Urbina (4 J School System)
Victor Becera (LEAD and Juventud FACETA)
Elizabeth Sampedro (Juventud FACETA)

II. Challenges for Immigrant Men and Women  - room 184
Panel organizer: Guadalupe Quinn

This panel will focus on challenges that immigrant men and women face at home, at work, and in their communities such as negotiating who is “in charge” at home, how women can learn to “speak up,” and be listened to, how to negotiate one or two jobs while raising a family, ways of managing anger and domestic violence, and strategies for finding support as men and women in immigrant communities.

Speakers
Beatríz Martínez (Welcome Center Springfield)
Jorge Navarro (Centro Latino Americano, Eugene)
Raul de la O (Emergence)

III. Labor - room 175
Panel organizers: Lise Nelson and Joan Acker

This panel explores the wages and working conditions of Latino/a immigrants in Oregon, as well as efforts to improve conditions and wages for both male and female workers in the state. Topics include: living wage campaigns and their connection to immigrant rights, sexual and racial harassment on the job, immigrant worker organizing strategies and successes, and labor law issues.

Speakers
Ignacio Páramo, VOZ (Workers’ Rights Education Project, Portland)
Marcelina Martinez & Julie Samples (Oregon Law Center)
Nimfa López, HERE (Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union, Eugene)
Dagoberto Morales, UNETE (Center for Farmworker Advocacy, Medford)

12:30–1:30 p.m. • Lunch break

1:30–3 p.m. • Two Concurrent Panels

IV. Indigenous Immigrant Women’s Organizing and Leadership  - room 175
Panel organizer: Lynn Stephen

This panel focuses on the intersection of labor rights, human rights, cultural rights, and the gender rights of indigenous immigrant women. It also will emphasize network building, alliance building, and challenges that indigenous immigrant women face in their political work as well as in their personal lives.

Speakers
Odilia Romero (Zapoteca, Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB), Los.Angeles)
Carmen González de Jesús (PCUN, Woodburn, Oregon Law Center)
Reina Vásquez (Amigos, Juventud FACETA, Eugene)
Centolia Maldonado (Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales (FIOB), Los Angeles)

V. Negotiating Family Dynamics - room 142
Panel organizer: Marcela Mendoza

The panelists will discuss issues of mixed immigration status within the same families. They will also address generational dynamics within immigrant families, with children being empowered by their command of English language and culture, some feeling more “American” than others, and parents holding on to the traditions of their home country.

Speakers
Erlinda Gonzalez Berry (Ethnic Studies Department, Oregon State University)
Mario Magaña (4-H Youth Development Education, Oregon State University)
Judith Salas Rocha (Springfield High School)
Ruth Vargas-Forman (Oregon Health Sciences University and Siempre Amigos)

3–3:15 p.m. • Coffee break

3:15–4:45 p.m. • Two concurrent panels

VI. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Issues in Immigrant Communities - room 142
Panel organizers: Ernesto Martínez, Patricia Cortez, and Heather McClure

This panel will inform the audience how immigration and LGBTQ issues intersect and affect the lives of gay immigrants; their places in U. S. society; their sense of safety; family dynamics in integration and acceptance; including families structures - same-sex parents, gay or lesbian or transgendered children.

Speakers
Maceo Persson (Basic Rights Oregon)
Hector Miramontes (Ethnic Studies Program, University of Oregon)
Horacio Roque Ramírez  (Chicano Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara)

VII. Services for Immigrant Families - room 175
Panel organizer: Ellen Scott

This panel examines the services needed by immigrant families in Oregon, particularly given the constraints of low-wage work, racism, documentation issues, and linguistic barriers. Topics include: lack of adequate access to health and mental health services, supporting children of immigrant families in Oregon schools, services for families of children with disabilities, culturally and linguistically appropriate service provision, and solutions for overcoming lack of access to a range of services.

Speakers
Miriam Bautista (advocate for Latino health issues)
Sister Barbara Haase (PeaceHealth Community Outreach)
Patricia Cortez (Amigos, Juventud FACETA)      
Laura E. Isiordia (Farmworker Housing Development Corporation, Woodburn Oregon)

5–6:30 p.m. • Keynote Presentation- room 175

Lessons on Gender and Family Iissues among Immigrant Populations in Oregon and California.

Patricia Zavella (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Guadalupe Quinn (CAUSA, Lane county)

6:30–8:00 p.m. • Reception and Cultural Event • Knight Law Center - commons area

Organizers: Lynn Stephen and Pedro Garcia-Caro

Arturo Arias (University of Texas at Austin), opening remarks

Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC) Photo Exhibit

Millerz in Da' Mix, Springfield High School

Ballet Folklórico Xochiquetzal