Latinitas

Latinitas was founded in 2002 by Alicia Rascon and Laura Donnelly, a couple of University of Texas students fed up with the misrepresentation of Latinas in media who decided to do something about it. What started as the first and still only online magazine for Hispanic girls written by Hispanic girls has evolved to serve over 25,000 girls and teens through after-school clubs, weekend workshops, teen internships, camps, and conferences at 112 Austin schools, libraries, community and cultural centers, and public housing sites, equipping girls and teens of all backgrounds with a variety of multimedia production skills and technology training -- from digital photography to robotics. As a result, Latinitas has provided media, tech, and cultural literacy after-school clubs in 15 Austin and El Paso Title 1 elementary and middle schools, five weeks of full-day camps annually with a sliding fee scale, and hundreds of free or low-cost workshops at public housing, libraries, community centers, and community college campuses. Additionally, since 2012, Latinitas has been producing one-day themed Chica Conferences that explore coding, business development, college attainment, and health. To make all of this possible, volunteers have donated more than 27,000 hours of digital media and technology instruction, 410 women of color in technology, media, and other industries have presented their careers during clubs, camps, and conferences and donors have contributed tens of thousands of dollars in financial aid to girls in need to attend our summer camps focused on cinema, gaming, media, fashion, tech, and healthy choices.