Latina Futures Bootcamp Focuses on Unsilencing Communities by Preparing Cohort to Respond to Federal Actions
Latina Futures has kicked off the new year by hosting an opinion commentary bootcamp called “Our Unsilencing”. Led by Latina Futures senior journalism fellow Jean Guerrero, this intensive program provides students with training needed to provide commentary on urgent political and social issues, including the economy, environment, and immigration among other critical topics.
Latina Futures interviewed Guerrero to learn more about why it’s critical to hear from these voices in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency:
Can you talk about the genesis of the bootcamp? Why is it important to train this particular cohort of individuals?
Last year, the Latina Futures 2050 Lab’s leaders and I were brainstorming about how we could counter the long-standing underrepresentation of Latinas in the U.S. news media. We came up with the idea for an intensive training program that would equip students with the tools and skills to write persuasive op-eds and deliver on-air commentary on some of the most urgent political and social issues of our time. We wanted the cohort to be diverse. Our recruits include people from historically marginalized communities, including those who identify as LGBTQ, Black and immigrants. We have Gen Zers and young millennials whose perspectives are critical because they are the future. We have established leaders from Gen X, such as executive directors and eminent scholars, who bring experience to the table. Our recruits are learning not only from our instructors but from one another. We selected them because all of them have crucial perspectives that can bend the arc of history.
Bootcamp students participate in a session focused on personal stories.
What are your goals for the bootcamp? How does opinion commentary have an impact on policy development?
Our goal is to reshape mainstream narratives about the economy, the environment, education, immigration, gender and other critical issues. Historically, Latinas have been excluded from the shaping of these narratives because of systemic barriers and stereotypes that Latinas cannot be public intellectuals. This has impoverished the American imagination and favored a status quo of injustice and inequality. Politicians, lawmakers and other people in positions of power often read the opinion sections of their newspapers and listen to national radio and TV for ideas about how to solve problems. Our recruits will play a critical role in offering bold new solutions that can benefit all Americans and not just a privileged minority.
How did you work with the Latina Futures Lab to design the bootcamp’s syllabus?
We wanted the syllabus to impart a wide range of skills given the changing media landscape. We also wanted to bring in instructors who were experts in different corners of that landscape: traditional newspapers, broadcast networks and digital. After discussing our options, we settled on professionals from a wide range of news outlets—including an opinion editor from the New York Times and a producer at Democracy Now!, the independent news show. All of our participants were assigned to one of our instructors for one-on-one mentorship based on their responses to a questionnaire which we used to evaluate students’ goals.
You designed this bootcamp to uplift Latina voices during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. Why is this timing so critical?
The Trump administration’s policies are targeting vulnerable communities across this country, including mixed-status families and LGBTQ individuals. It has never been more imperative to provide support for people from these communities to speak truth to power. Latinas are often heads of households of these groups; their voices can counter the politics of scapegoating. They can cut through the demagoguery to offer practical options for improving people’s lives. Even if our recruits can’t change minds inside the White House, there are powerful people across this country—locally, statewide and in other parts of the government—who can be influenced to forge positive change and to fight for the dignity of all people.
What do you hope participants will gain from the workshop feedback process you’ve designed?
Each of the participants has the opportunity to write one op-ed and to submit it to the class for feedback. This workshopping is a critical part of the learning process because by analyzing and critiquing one another’s work, our recruits can refine their understanding of the structure of these articles and deepen their knowledge of what constitutes a powerful argument.
One of the bootcamp’s sessions is focused on weaving the personal and the political. Why do you take that approach? How did the participants respond to that session?
Personal stories can be transformative. They are the most powerful tool for connecting people across differences, be they ideological, racial/ethnic, religious or otherwise. As humans, we relate to one another through personal stories. I wanted our recruits to learn how to use the raw material of their lives to make larger points about political and social issues. I also wanted them to recognize that there are risks associated with being vulnerable in public, and to think critically about how much they want to expose themselves. It has been our most successful session so far. Our participants shared a sense of excitement, intellectual breakthroughs and renewed determination. Fernanda Santos, managing editor at 19th News, imparted invaluable insights about how to use universal human experiences, such as grief or illness, to spread empathy and establish relatability with people who would otherwise tune out our voices.
How do you see the work of the bootcamp continuing after the sessions are over?
I will continue working with our recruits to provide support as they seek to publish their op-eds and/or to appear on radio and TV programs to share their important perspectives. My hope is that the visibility of our recruits in the media will inspire other Latinas and underrepresented individuals to follow in their footsteps and that many more news organizations will be moved to elevate powerful voices like these. Additionally, the Latina Futures Lab hopes to make the bootcamp a recurring program to combat the longstanding exclusion of Latina voices.
What advice do you have for people who are interested in writing and publishing opinion commentary?
Identify an issue that matters to you. Write down why it matters to you and how it connects to the news cycle. Once you have that, you have the backbone of an op-ed in which you can use your personal experience or expertise to argue for a social or political change, such as a new policy or shift in readers’ awareness. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t hear back or if you get a rejection. You can revise the top of your op-ed when your issue is back in the news and submit it again. Believe in your voice and keep refining it. The world will be enriched by it.
