Men of Color Conference

Wassup y’all! The conference is this Friday! With that, we will continue with our workshop series promotion. This workshop is “Know my Name, Know my Face, Know my Story as a community college athlete”

Description is below:
“Everybody wants to be great, but not everybody is willing to do what it takes to be great. It takes hard work, discipline, grit, and determination to be great. Student-athletes of color face unique challenges and demands through their academic journey. Our workshop will address topics most relevant to athletes of color with 2 former alumni who’ve been there too. This workshop provides a learning opportunity that will guide and support student-athletes on the habits and skills needed to be successful. Student-athletes will learn about personal responsibility, mindset, habits, skills, and beliefs that help athletes of color be successful.”

MOCAN workshop series: Mindfulness and Mental Health for Men of Color. Presented by Rohan Desai from Pasadena City College.

Th aim of this workshop is to explore what mindfulness is and learn strategies to take care of yourself. We the full description below. Sign up link is in bio.

“As men of color who face microaggressions daily, we are more susceptible to anxiety and psychological distress through racial discrimination than our White counterparts, however we tend to be the least likely to acknowledge our stress and reach out for help to cope with it effectively. In this workshop, you will learn mindfulness strategies that can help you take care of yourself.”

All month long, we will be posting a series of key workshops with powerful speakers. Make sure to stay tuned throughout the month for more! Link is in bio.

Method to my Greatness “The Power of Becoming your own Architect”:

This workshop will focus on key strategies and methodology that promotes educational and career readiness and life success. Through and intentional lens of self-authorship, students will Lewinsky about what it means to be their own architect, designing their path to excellence.

Presenters: Leonidas Sloan, Program Coordinator (CSUDH). Gerardo Cuevas, Program Coordinator (CSUDH)

We would like to introduce our SECOND banger of a keynote speaker for the MOCAN conference this year, Dr. Thomas Parham, Ph. D.

Dr. Parham is the 11th President of Cal State Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), a highly diverse university serving South Central and South Bay areas of LA. Previously he served as a Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and a faculty member at UC Irvine for over 30 years.

For the past 38 years, Dr. Parham has focused his research in psychological nigrescience and has authored or co-authored 6 books and 45-50 journal articles and book chapters. He has sustained a scholarly focus in the areas of racial identity development, African psychology, and multicultural counseling.

Dr. Parham grew up in SoCal and received his BA in social ecology at UCI, his masters in counseling psychology at Washington University, and his Ph.D in counseling psychology at Southern Illinois University.

We are excited to have Dr. Parham speak and we look forward to his keynote. Register for the conference today! (Link in bio)

Happy Monday folks; we have our official flyer going out to the presses! Please share with your networks and register for the conference via the link in the bio.

This year’s conference theme is “Staying in the Game.” As many of us have navigated challenging times these last couple years, we find this year’s theme very fitting of young men’s experiences persevering adversity to achieve their goals. Trust us, this year’s conference is going to be a good one!

We look forward to seeing you on March 25th!

Hello Everyone, welcome back to Spring semester! We wanted to let you all know we are going through a rebranding. The Men of Color Conference Committee will now be called Men of Color Action Network (MOCAN). As you can see, we also got a new logo!
I’m addition to all this exciting news, we will be hosting our next Annual Men of Color Conference on March 25th in person at LA Harbor College! Due to being in person, we will be following the LA County Department of Health’s guidelines regarding COVID 19. Click the link in the bio to sign up now. Spots are limited!

Dr. Brad Elliot Stone will be hosting our closing ceremony! Click on the link in our bio to sign up and tune in! Here is a snippet of information about Dr. Brad Stone.

Dr. Brad Stone, is a Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Professor and Graduate Director of Philosophy. Dr Stone does not just lecture, he guides students on a quest for truth while unraveling humanity's greatest quandaries. Heralded as one of the top professors in the nation by The Princeton Review, Stone has been spreading wisdom on the bluff for the past seventeen years and is just getting started. We are excited to hear him speak!

Our final workshop for the month is one of the most important! Come to our Coalition Building workshop to learn how to expand your squad and establish your network. Sign up via link in bio! Description is below:

Having a well-established network is an important part of life in becoming a man that is professionally successful and mentally healthy. The easiest way to expand our squad is to build on the relationships with people you know; family, friends, and classmates. In this workshop you will learn how to build a network that will support your educational and professional journey.

Learning to Love Your Inner Child Workshop starts tomorrow at 12pm! Please sign up via the link in bio and make sure to tune in! Description is below:

Fatherhood plays a meaningful role in the development of a child and the relationship they will have with the world around them. An absent and/or negligent father can leave an individual feeling untrustworthy, worthless, and incomplete to name a few. Often times, these unhealed wounds get passed from one generation to another in an ongoing cycle of trauma. This conversation invites all fatherless sons and those who wish to learn more on the subject matter further understand this human experience while also finding loving ways to father their own inner child.

Coming up on Oct. 23 from 12 pm - 1:30 pm is our workshop: The Father Wound: Learning to Love Your Inner Child. We are going to get DEEP in this workshop! Link is in bio to sign up description is below:

Fatherhood plays a meaningful role in the development of a child and the relationship they will have with the world around them. An absent and/or negligent father can leave an individual feeling untrustworthy, worthless, and incomplete to name a few. Often times, these unhealed wounds get passed from one generation to another in an ongoing cycle of trauma. This conversation invites all fatherless sons and those who wish to learn more on the subject matter further understand this human experience while also finding loving ways to father their own inner child.

Let's get that blood flowing! Tomorrow is our Workout Wednesday Workshop from 12-1 pm. Description is below and the link is in bio to sign up.

With gyms closed and more people than ever working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, engaging in physical fitness activities can be challenging but finding a way to adapt to these new conditions is vital to maintaining our health. In this workshop, you will learn how you can physically engaged at home.

Time to get those creative juices flowing with our hip hop and poetry workshop. The description is below and the link to sign up is in the bio. See you there!

Discover the power of Poetry and Hip Hop has on the male mind. Acquire the skills on how to liberate and heal yourself mentally and spiritually as well as others through your lyrics. Learn how write poetry/lyrics and freestyle. Recognize real past and present conscious artists, poets and their lyrics.

Its getting close to game time folks! Our Workout Wednesday Workshop will take place this Wednesday from 12-1pm. The description for the workshop is below and link is in bio to sign up.

With gyms closed and more people than ever working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, engaging in physical fitness activities can be challenging but finding a way to adapt to these new conditions is vital to maintaining our health. In this workshop, you will learn how you can physically engaged at home.

One of our newest workshops was created to help you find your voice. Tune in because it's going to be a good one! Description is below and link to sign up is in bio.

Have you ever felt as if you did not have a voice in college, i.e. in classes, on campus or with your classmate? This open dialogue workshop will seek to put you up on the game in identifying the knowledge that you already possess and how to activate your hustle to find your voice. In addition, we will be identifying how to develop our own networks to help us succeed while we prioritize our mental health.

We are gearing up for our Workout Wednesday Workshop next week on Oct. 21st from 12 pm-1 pm and we want to hear from you: how do you stay in shape; body, mind, and spirit?

The Expression sessions is a space for expression of emotions for current events such as, police brutality within our communities, social injustice on being a man of color, and any other topics that you would like to address.

Join us tomorrow Oct. 15th over zoom at 12pm!

The professional Workshop, "How to Move Up the Community College Ladder" starts today in 1 hour! Click the link in bio to sign up!

If you are a man of color looking to advance in your career as a community college employee, then this is the workshop for you. Senior administrators and full-time faculty counselors will be discussing networking, application, resume, and interview tips. ⁠⁠⁠

Today is the day for Turnout Tuesday! Learn how to be a leader in your community and ways to become civically engaged! Link is in the bio to register

Our Turn out Tuesday Workshop is tomorrow at 12pm! Do not miss the chance to learn about leadership and how to get civically engaged with us being so close to the election! Tap the link below to join!

Our turnout Tuesday workshop is fast approaching! Have you thought about being a leader in your community? Have you thought about how to be civically engaged in these highly tense political times? Then this workshop is for you!

Come and learn how you can run for a leadership position from men of color who have run grass-root campaigns at their schools/communities. The presenters include Mayor Vargas and City Clerk, Dr. Jimenez from Hawthorne, Joshua Elizondo (SMC Student Trustee), and Ryan Richard (Community Outreach Representative from LA County).

The next board member we are going to highlight is Juan Camacho, who is hosting the Workout Wednesday workshop on Oct. 21st! ⁠
⁠
Juan Camacho is a counselor at Los Angeles Southwest College and Compton College. He helps students identify and achieve their educational goals. Juan Camacho has always enjoyed working in education. In fact, Juan has been working in the education profession for 12 years. His passion for helping students is endless. In addition, he truly believes that his career will be the most rewarding part of his life. Juan Camacho received his Master's of Science in Educational Counseling from the University of La Verne. Juan has been actively giving back to his community by coaching basketball and mentoring young men. ⁠
⁠
Furthermore, he helps coordinate an empowerment group at Los Angeles Southwest College called The GAME acronym for the Grown As Man Experience. Three things that best describe Mr. Camacho will be passionate, determination, and goal seeker.⁠
⁠
Come check him out at his workshop!⁠
⁠

Happy Mindfulness Monday! Today is the day our Mindfulness and Mental Health for Men of Color kicks off at 12pm today on Zoom. Take some time check-in, connect, and recharge with us. Tap the link to join: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/97298130857

The Men of Color Conference will kick off its first workshop tomorrow on Zoom at 12pm with Mindfulness and Mental Health for Men of Color Workshop. 2020 is a hard year and we all need time check-in, connect, and recharge. Tap on the link to join! https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/97298130857

Dr. Tommi Smith is presenting as our keynote TODAY at 12pm! We are so excited to have him open for us at the Men of Color Conference. If you have not signed up already, hurry! Link is in our bio!

We will have former athlete and living legend Dr. Tommi Smith (center) presenting as our opening keynote speaker THIS FRIDAY, October 2nd @ 12pm. Sign up via the link in our bio!

The 2nd Board member we are going to highlight is Dr. Greg Toya!

Dr. Gregory J. Toya serves as the Director of Student Development at El Camino College. Greg advises student government and student clubs and manages student discipline, commencement, the Warrior (food) pantry, Metro U-Pass program, photo identification and many student-equity events and programs. Dr. Toya collaborates with multiple colleagues to coordinate the Men of Color initiatives at El Camino College and greater Los Angeles area

Dr. Toya’ previously served as the Associate Dean of Students and Interim Associate Dean of Student Life and Leadership at California State University, San Marcos (CSUSM). Greg also served students in cultural centers at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis. Greg also worked at University of California, Irvine (UCI), University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Maryland (UMD).

Greg earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Ecology from the UCI, a master’s degree in Counseling and Student Development from the UMD and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of California, San Diego and CSUSM.

Happy Wednesday everyone! The conference is right around the corner and we have our schedule up and ready to go! If you have not signed up already, the link is in our bio. We are so excited for what is in store!

The first member of the board we are highlighting was the first OG to host the Men of Color conference and solidify the vision back in 2017, Dr. Paul Jimenez! Dr. Paul Jimenez serves as a Counseling Faculty at Santa Monica College where he leads Men of Color initiatives. He was elected to the position of City Clerk for the city of Hawthorne in November 2018.
Paul was born in El Salvador, grew up in Santa Ana, California and attended 3 community colleges. He earned a B.A from UCLA, an M.A. from LMU, and a doctorate from USC.
Professor Jimenez is also a children’s book author, The Adventures of El Cipote ; and an avid traveler who has visited over 40 countries. Professor Jimenez lives with his wife Nathalia, son Pablo, and their dogs Lucy Lou and Nala in Hawthorne, CA.

An incredible champion for equality just passed and there is an empty seat on the Supreme Court. Now, more than ever, it is time to do something. Here are some things you can: Check your registration to vote, connect with community organizers, connect with your family, and persuade them to vote. And of course vote yourself! Now is the time to protect democracy and act!

Happy Thursday good people! The Men of Color Conference Board wants you to get to know the team behind the scenes!
For the next month and a half, we will be highlighting different members of the board, our backgrounds, and what we do in our specific disciplines.
Though we are all from different walks of life, we were all brought together for one cause: to provide young men of color with opportunities for personal/professional development and to create a space of solidarity in a time of great divide. We live in your communities and work on your campuses. If you see us, come talk to us!

It's official people! The 3rd Annual Southern California Community College Men of Color Conference 2020 is set to take place virtually this October with events all month long! Sign up for FREE via the link below and enjoy a month of empowerment and positive social change! There will be leadership workshops, guest speakers, community resources, and limited participation grants available for community college students. Sign up today! ⁠
⁠
http://bit.ly/vote_voice_and_revolution⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠

Men of Color Conference updated their website address.

We are passionate about helping to build young men of color in community college to achieve their educational and professional goals. This is one of the highlights from our "Build your Squad" Workshop from the 2nd Annual Men of Color Conference last year that we want to bring back again this year. Join us this October for a month-long event of empowerment, positive social change, and an opportunity to network with other men of color

Tune into Mindfulness Monday on Oct.5th.
Looking forward to seeing you there!