Climate change and a host of other factors increase food insecurity, which disproportionately impacts Latinx and other underserved communities in our region. Now, San Diego State University has received a four-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to train Latinx students for careers in sustainable agriculture and food science.

San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery recently celebrated LatinX Heritage Month, with the exhibition In Lak’ech: Tu eres me otro yo (You are my other me), featuring Artworks by Maria de Los Angeles and Ryan Bonilla. Maria de Los Angeles is a Latinx artist and professor of painting at Yale University School of Art and started her education as a Dreamer at Santa Rosa community college. Ryan Bonilla is a Filipino-American fashion photographer that has worked for Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry and published in ELLE and other fashion magazines. They traveled from the East Coast to attend the reception. Maria de Los Angeles is based in New York.

San Diego - San Diego Mesa College has been named a 2021 Equity Champion of Higher Education by The Campaign for College Opportunity for awarding Associate Degrees for Transfer (ADT) to Black and Latinx students. Colleges are recognized due to their actions to intentionally ensure that Black and Latinx students who have a transfer goal earn an ADT. This is determined via the percentage point gap (PPG), which identifies campuses, such as Mesa College, that are excelling in awarding ADTs to Latinx and Black students, relative to their campus wide ADT conferral rates. Across all California Community Colleges, Mesa is recognized as having a high proportion of degree or transfer seeking Black and Latinx students who received an ADT in the 2019-2020 academic year. This is achievement is indicative of the equity work in which Mesa College engages daily.