The neighboring nations of the United States and Mexico have shared a little more than 200 years of diplomatic and business relations, as well as cultural and familial ties. And from that shared perspective, the Latino Education and Advocacy Days (LEAD) Project will examine the binational relationship from the prism of education when it hosts LEAD Summit XIII, “El Plan de San Bernardino: Transnationalism, Academic Mobility, and the Reframing of Education,” on Sept. 27 at Cal State San Bernardino.

Registration is now open for the summit, which will take place from 8 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Santos Manuel Student Union South. Visit the 2024 LEAD Summit XIII Registration webpage to reserve your spot.

Each year the summit, which is open to the public and free to attend, brings together teaching professionals and educators, researchers, academics, scholars, administrators, independent writers and artists, policy and program specialists, students, parents, civic leaders, activists and advocates – all sharing a common interest and commitment to education issues that impact Latinos to help them define the future. 

LEAD Summit XIII will address education as the principal issue by which to frame the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship; and for the purposes of this thematic explanation, LEAD Summit organizers aim to share two ways to view and consider education, and the process and content of education:

  • First, education should be viewed as a right, not a privilege.
  • Second, education should be viewed as an investment.

“Binational education partnerships are crucial for fostering social mobility and mutual growth between the United States and México, emphasizing the importance of shared educational goals and cultural exchange,” said Enrique Murillo Jr., LEAD executive director and CSUSB professor of education. “The U.S. and Mexico should collaborate, officially, to better plan its shared mutual future by undertaking far-reaching binational and transnational interventions that expand and promote academic mobility, the education marketplace, and equitable advancement and opportunity for all. For today’s global economy, both the U.S. and Mexico need additional college graduates and a more ambitious plan to help us meet the imperatives of the current era.”

In February, LEAD helped organize the Building Academic Exchange Bridges Across Borders (California-Mexico and Beyond) 2024 meeting, the objectives of which were to:

  • Promote an educational and cultural exchange program between California and Mexico (and beyond), based on the need to build a long-term binational academic exchange plan (2024-2030), through a network of higher education institutions, researchers, teachers, legislators and students of the region on both sides of the international border.
  • Promote research, teaching and dissemination of problems related to the migration of Mexicans to the United States, their insertion into American society and their economic and cultural contributions to both countries.
  • Define educational projects of academic extension and collaboration based on the proposals and discussions held at both binational higher education meetings.

The sessions can be viewed on the LEAD CSUSB YouTube channel at “El Plan de San Bernardino.” Part two of the meeting will take place at LEAD Summit XIII.

Also, each summit names honorary chairs, or padrinos, and this year multiple-award winning director Sergio Arau and acclaimed actress and writer Yareli Arizmendi have been selected for the honor. They are the husband and wife duo, co-creators of the 2004 film, “A Day Without a Mexican,” which imagines a California in which all its Mexican residents suddenly disappear as a mysterious fog surrounds the state’s borders, cutting off all communication with – and to – the outside world. With a huge portion of its residents gone, life in California as many know it comes to a grinding halt. A screening of the film is scheduled a day before the summit, open to the public, and featuring a question-and-answer session with the filmmakers.

In addition, the summit will showcase as its featured exhibit the “Anthology of Dreams from an Impossible Journey,” a compilation by the California-Mexico Studies Center (CMSC) – the summit’s major sponsor – for its 12th anniversary in 2023. The book features 38 stories shared by Dreamers, selected from 215 participants in the CMSC’s Summer 2021 Dreamers Study Abroad Program.

"The CMSC has been an ongoing advocate for binational higher education exchange opportunities, and we recognize the value of international partnerships,” said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, CMSC president and CEO. “By intersecting histories, shared geography, and cultural/familial ties, the United States and México are each other's closest and most valued neighbors and partners. Empowering institutions of higher learning, students, and faculty to pursue educational opportunities abroad for academic, cultural and scholarly exchange paves the way for global engagement and expands potential educational partnerships between the two countries.”

Sponsorships for the summit are available. Visit the LEAD Sponsorship Opportunities webpage for information.

Visit the LEAD Summit XIII website for more information on the summit and LEAD’s other programs.

LEAD Summit XIII flyer