Supporting first-generation college students is a passion for Maira Oliva Hernandez, a Colorado State University graduate student in the Student Affairs in Higher Education program. That passion was recently recognized with an $18,000 grant from the 2023 Women & Girls of Color Fund.
Oliva Hernandez is one of 27 women and nonbinary leaders across the state to be awarded a grant from the fund. She was selected because of her work with the First Generation Near Peer Mentoring Program for Larimer County. In partnership with The Access Center at CSU, the project pairs Spanish-speaking students in local K-12 schools with mentors and mentees who share similar experiences and backgrounds. The mentoring program is designed to create a framework of support for the mentors in the program, as well as the mentees, providing academic and socioemotional support for students along their educational path.
“I am very thrilled,” Hernandez said after receiving many congratulations from those in her department. “I was not aware this was not a common achievement as a graduate student!”
About the program
FGNP has 55 mentors with four partner units. Twenty mentors are at CSU, and they have a partnership with student mentors from UNC, AIMS Community College in Fort Lupton and Fort Morgan Community College. The program was started in 2015 by Eric Ishiwata, an associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at CSU.
“He is in the community-organizing world also and noticed an additional need for students in the high school in Fort Morgan from immigrant backgrounds learning a second language,” said Hernandez. “He’s expanded the program to a 55-mentor project; it started with just five.”
“I definitely wasn’t a grad student when I received my first grant,” said Ishiwata. “Maira did the entire application on her own. We have real gems at CSU in our first-gen population, but now they’re able to put their skills into grant writing and become advocates for their communities. The beautiful thing is now the foundations throughout the state are witnessing her strengths and recognizing their talents with awards like this one.”
Expansion plans
With the $18,000 grant the program can expand, supporting mentors and the success of future college students in the area. Hernandez said the program can now continue to expand the number of mentor participants with an increased budget for fellowship stipends, specifically for CSU’s first-generation, Spanish-speaking students. And the plan is to build the program beyond 55 mentors. Hernandez credits the knowledge and skills acquired from the SAHE graduate program that helped her apply and get the grant money. The SAHE graduate program is designed for students seeking a career in one of a variety of education and service areas constituting student affairs administration within a postsecondary setting.
“Those receiving the funds will be first-generation CSU student mentors,” said Hernandez. “And the mentees are benefitting from the experiences and identities our mentors identify with. With the identities they have comes a specific set of experiences navigating college, learning a new language. The experiences are informed by those identities, and the mentorship that is informed by those experiences is what makes FGNP such a needed program for our K-12 partners.”
As a first-generation college student from a family of immigrants, Hernandez is especially passionate about leading this program as its project manager.
“The mentors are CSU first-generation college students from immigrant backgrounds, most of whom have had to learn a new language,” said Hernandez. “The program allows us to highlight how big of an asset it is to have those identities. How hard-working and how driven these mentors are is influenced by their identities. It is turning the perceived deficits into assets they use for helping others.”
Funding a better future
Since 2021, the Women & Girls of Color Fund has invested in partners working in their communities to create a better future for Colorado women, girls and gender-expansive people of color. Supported by the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, the fund has awarded $450,000 in unrestricted funding this year to 27 women and nonbinary leaders of color. Hernandez is among 12 first-time award recipients.
Ishiwata said the relationship with the Women’s Foundation of Colorado was first developed through another program he was involved with, which helped women from underserved backgrounds earn a college degree and a fair wage. But the fact that a graduate student was able to write a grant proposal and win it makes him incredibly proud.
“I think what makes this special is that all the work we’re doing through this is trying to build up the power and capacity of our CSU students and support staff,” said Ishiwata. “They can bring these skills beyond CSU and bring them into the workplace.”
FGNP was originally funded by seed money from former CSU president and current chancellor of the CSU System, Tony Frank. Hernandez says that contribution is an example of how one investment can grow into something that affects so many more CSU students and K-12 students in communities than they originally envisioned, making the university an example for the rest of the state.
“When CSU makes investments into programs benefiting students here and future CSU Rams, we see that it’s really important to continue putting money into community-oriented efforts,” Hernandez said. “It’s because we’re creating a cycle of support for both our students and our community. It’s a win-win-win situation for everyone, and I’m really glad it will serve as a great example for this.”
