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This summer, three Colorado College alumni – Mazlyn Freier ’23, Alanna Jackson ’23, and Andres Madrigal ’23 – and 15 current students – Nico Brubaker ’26, Diana Buda ’24, Alexandra Flores ’26, Corrina Gardner ’25, Daisy Gomez Rivera ’24, Jordan McMurtry ’25, Natalia O’Campo ’24, Lauryn Pfrommer-Pease ’24, Pang Pongsirirushaku ’25, Alex Reynolds-Scheel ’25, Alex Stambuk ’24, Eve Stewart ’24, Etelin Tapia Andrade ’26, Julissa Torres ’24, and Julia Watson ’25 – participated in the Colorado College Activism Institute (CCAI). With the institute, they served as social justice activists in the areas of immigrant detention and community organization. They witnessed atrocities at the border and rallied for the rights of asylum seekers.
Through CCAI, the college is leading a national model linking liberal arts education to antiracist, community-engaged work that aims to address contemporary challenges and prepare students for social action careers and lifelong civic engagement.
“Many of the great challenges of the twenty-first century – climate crisis, growing socio-economic inequality and precarity, etc. – connect directly to escalating surveillance and criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities,” says Dr. Eric Popkin, CC Sociology Professor and CCAI Program Director. “Activist and advocacy approaches to advance potential solutions to these challenges are essential. Students need to acquire a specific skill set to effectively engage in this work.”
CCAI offers students training and experience in the context of direct collaboration with community-based organizations in the US Southwest in one of two tracks. In the Community Organizing Track, the program partners with Mijente – No Tech for ICE Campaign, Grassroots Leadership (Austin, Texas), Colorado Jobs with Justice (Denver, Colorado), Border Network for Human Rights (El Paso), Mano Amiga (San Marcos, Texas), Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (Denver, Colorado), and the ACLU of New Mexico. In the Immigrant Detention Work Track, students work with New Mexico Immigrant Law Center (Albuquerque, New Mexico), Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center (El Paso, Texas), and the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (Denver, Colorado).
Many of the great challenges of the twenty-first century – climate crisis, growing socio-economic inequality and precarity, etc. – connect directly to escalating surveillance and criminalization of BIPOC communities… Activist and advocacy approaches to advance potential solutions to these challenges are essential. Students need to acquire a specific skill set to effectively engage in this work.”
Dr. Eric Popkin, CC Sociology Professor and CCAI Program Director
“The program advances a model that combines mentored internships with a deliberate social action career discernment component,” Popkin says. “During the program, students learn skills to engage in activist projects, consider antiracist approaches to community-engaged work, participate in discussions focused on conceptions of social change, and explore activist and advocacy career possibilities.”
CCAI fosters competencies such as teamwork, communication skills, problem solving, public presentation, and collaborative assessment – particularly relevant for transition from college to career. Several graduating students who completed the program obtained positions with their host organization and others have pursued law school emphasizing public interest careers. Now in its third year, CCAI continues to grow. Students and recent graduates from across the spectrum of majors and interest groups have participated in the program. Over 70% of the students in the program are BIPOC students. CCAI also includes students from other colleges affiliated with the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. This summer, two students from Carleton College participated.
“In 2023, we piloted the effort [to open to other colleges] by introducing the idea to select ACM colleges leading us to work directly with the Carleton College Career Center,” says Popkin. “In 2024, we intend to recruit additional students from the ACM and other colleges and increase the total number of students to twenty-five. Additionally, I am working to enhance the orientation and debrief sessions tied to the program to include additional training. I am also exploring the inclusion of other possible program tracks such as Border Investigative Journalism and collaborating with community organizations in the southwest that are addressing environmental justice issues.”
When asked what CC alumni can do to help, Popkin says, “We would like to organize several regional events in which students in the program present their work to interested alumni and parents of CC students. The program was based in Denver, Albuquerque, El Paso, Austin, and Dallas-Ft. Worth in 2023 and may include an additional site in summer 2024. We are also hoping to generate additional funding from alumni interested in the program.”
Do you want to help? Please contact Dr. Eric Popkin.