UMass Boston's Latino Leadership Program Celebrates 35 Years with Transformative $3 Million Gift
A heartfelt celebration of the UMass Boston Latino Leadership Opportunity Program’s 35 years of impact ended with a $3 million surprise.
“This is a momentous, momentous occasion,” said UMass Boston Chancellor Suárez-Orozco to an excited crowd of more than 80 students, faculty, and alumni on April 1. They had gathered at the UMass Club in downtown Boston to celebrate the 35th anniversary of a beloved UMass Boston program: the Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development & Public Policy’s Latino Leadership Opportunity Program.
Suárez-Orozco had more than one milestone in mind. At the event, he also announced a $3 million gift to the Gastón Institute—the largest donation in its history—from Boston philanthropists Bob H’22 and Diane Hildreth.
The centerpiece of the celebration was the panel discussion “Latino Leadership for Social Justice,” featuring three Latino Leadership Opportunity Program (LLOP) alumni. LLOP, which trains UMass Boston undergraduates in research and policy analysis, as well as in leadership skills like teambuilding and public speaking, was launched in 1993 as a core education initiative for the Gastón Institute.
Panelist Tariana Little ’12, G’17, a member of the LLOP class of 2011, said that the institute’s emphasis on information sharing had shaped her own approach to social justice. “What the institute does is truth telling. It’s using research and data to be able to move policy and to move the community into the future,” said Little, now the CEO of EmVision Productions, a media production agency that helps organizations use communications to advance their justice missions.
After graduation, “I thought, well…what's the power within me? And what can I bring to those spaces that’s unique? And for me, it wasn't necessarily research, it was a different form of truth-telling, through communications,” said Little. “As we all find our form of truth telling, then we can really have social impact.”
Panelists Carlos Maynard ’99, G’03, G’15 and Joel Mora ’00, members of the LLOP class of 1999, emphasized how the program supported their success and modeled for them how to support others. Today, both work directly with undergraduates—Maynard as a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Bunker Hill Community College and Mora as assistant director of student success programs at UMass Boston.
“It’s in the name: Latino Leadership OPPORTUNITY Program,” said Mora, who credits LLOP with teaching him to navigate higher education, when, as a first-generation college student, “I didn't understand where to go, how to do it.”
“That's what I’m trying to do now with our students. And that's why I'm working where I'm working now for first-gen students,” he said. “And that’s what I’m hoping that our students will continue to learn and take from and give back. The key thing about LLOP is giving back.”
The theme of giving back was reemphasized after the panel concluded, when Suárez-Orozco rose to announce the Hildreths’ “transformational” gift. Their donation will permanently name and endow the directorship of the Gastón Institute, currently held by Associate Professor Lorna Rivera, and provide funding to support the institute’s work.
The announcement was met with an extended ovation—“so much love, I couldn’t finish the sentence!” quipped Suárez-Orozco, who added heartfelt commendation of his own. “Bob and Diane Hildreth have for decades been among the most generous philanthropists supporting Latinx communities in Greater Boston. Their generosity continues to make such a difference in so many lives. Bob and Diane, todo corazón, desde lo más profundo de mi alma, muchas gracias.”
A former economist for the International Monetary Fund and president and founder of International Bank Services, Bob Hildreth has also launched three nonprofits aimed at increasing access to college for lower-income Bostonians. The Hildreths are long-time supporters of the Gastón Institute, where they created, among other initiatives, the Robert Hildreth Latin America Internship Award to fund student travel and research in Latin American and Caribbean nations.
Bob praised the institute’s work, particularly in inventorying the Commonwealth’s services for Latino immigrants and quantifying “how well the immigrants over the last 50 years from Latin America have done in the Commonwealth, how essential they have been in our economy,” he said. “Really, the ‘thank you’ should be from us to you, for creating such important work and institutions for the Commonwealth, especially so now that we have a surge in immigration coming from Latin America. And our institutions are ready for them, with open arms.”
“As a first-generation college student, daughter of migrants, and an LLOP alumnae (when it was a national program), I know that Bob and Diane Hildreth’s support for the Gaston Institute’s programs is truly transformational for UMass Boston students,” said Rivera. “Words cannot express our gratitude for their generosity.”