For more than 50 years, thousands of Hispanic and Latine families throughout the Minnesota and the United States have recognized the middle of September until the middle of October as Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month.
During the year 1968, former President Lyndon B. Johnson announced recognition of "Hispanic Heritage Week" after Congress passed legislation giving all United States’ presidents the authority to issue annual proclamations. It was one year later, in 1969, that Hispanic Heritage Week expanded from a week-long cultural celebration to a full month following proclamation under former President Ronald Reagan.
Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month is not only important to thousands of families of color within the United States, but it is also important to numerous child welfare workers in metro, rural and tribal areas within the state of Minnesota.
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Lauren Rojas
Southwest
Regional Trainer
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Before becoming a regional trainer at the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy in 2024, Lauren Rojas was a child protection worker for the Lower Sioux Indian Community and the Red Lake Nation
for five years. Though Lauren is very passionate about her work for the Academy, she is even more proud of her Latina heritage as well.
Lauren’s grandparents moved to the United States in the late 1950s. As natives of Mexico and the Dominican Republic, Lauren’s grandparents were separated from most of their family while trying to pursue quality employment, education and resources for their children within the United States.
Lauren said she often thinks about not only how hard her grandparents worked to get to the United States, but she also often thinks about how her grandparents and father were dedicated to being protectors and providers while promoting the importance of love and acceptance within their family.
“My father and grandparents were the greatest examples of how to be a hard worker, how to be family-oriented, and how to serve others; whether ‘others’ were family, friends or the community.”
Lauren’s father served multiple years in the United States military while residing in the state of Maryland. Lauren mentioned that her father passed many years after retiring from the military, but she still remembers all of the lessons that he taught her when he was still living and she was a child.
“I am proud to be a Latina. Being a Latina is not about the clothes that I wear or the languages that I speak. It is about my family and my sense of community. That is what being Latina means to me.”
Lauren also mentioned that she still utilizes all of the lessons that her father and grandparents taught her within her life and work today.
If you or someone from your staff would like to share how you honor cultural heritage, please reach out to the MNCWTA DEI Team.
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Resources |
Go to Main Menu
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Indigenous Roots - Cultural resources
Clues - Multi-service organization
Centro MN - A multi service organization providing holistic culturally centered programming in mental health and wellness education for both children and adults.
Oportunidad
Esperanza United - Shelter for women and children
Raíces Sagradas - Mental health services
Neighborhood House - Social resources
Copal MN - All around community resources to support mental health, social services and education.
Unidos MN - Grassroots organization focused on building power for working families and advancing social racial and economic justice with a focus on immigration, education and climate justice.
Podcasts (Latine and Hispanic Stories)
- Latino USA - As the longest-running Latine news and culture radio program in the U.S., this podcast provides a window into the cultural, political, and social ideas impacting Latino communities across the nation.
- Latina to Latina - Host Alicia Menendez interviews remarkable Latinas about their successes, failures, and experiences thriving as women of color in different fields.
- Radio Ambulante - An award-winning, Spanish-language podcast from NPR that uses long-form audio journalism to tell compelling and underreported stories from across Latin America and the U.S.
Books (Latine and Hispanic Stories)
CPSW Resources
Community Resource Centers - A local hub that provides culturally responsive, relationship-based support and service navigation for expecting and parenting families and youth.
Child Welfare Training Box - Workers can order this tool box for themselves and colleagues.
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LGBTQIA2S History Month
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The month of October offers an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate multiple cultural identities. In facts, many youth and adults who identify as queer and/or transgender in Minnesota recognize October as LGBTQIA2S+ History Month.
In 1994, Rodney Wilson was a high school teacher, based in Missouri, who wanted to create a dedicated time of the year to highlight the roles that LGBTQIA2S+ individuals played throughout world history.
“…There was very little in the classroom. My textbook, for example, didn’t have anything about LGBTQ people or LGBTQ history,” said Wilson during an interview with PBS News in 2024.
Celebrated by countless youth and families for more than 30 years, LGBTQIA2S+ History Month was originally designed to honor National Coming Out Day, which occurs on October 11 of each year, and the first national march on Washington D.C. for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which was held on October 14, 1979.
“If you are not (heterosexual), you are in a difficult situation because you are (often considered) on the outside. You are part of a group that is an other type of group. But if you are going to live a fully integrated life, if you are going to be healthy, (if) you’re going to have the best life you can have, (then) that part of who you are must be part of the conversation,” said Wilson; read Wilson’s full interview with PBS News.
If you or someone you know would like to learn more about LGBTQIA2S+ History Month and ways to acknowledge or celebrate it, feel free to contact our DEI Team.
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Minnesota State Statute 260.69 under the Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act requires cultural competency training for all individuals working with African American and disproportionately represented children in the child welfare system. The Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy will be providing a monthly curated selection of resources and trainings that can be utilized to satisfy this training requirement while the statewide training is being developed.
Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy (MNCWTA), 1711 County Road B West, Suite 200N, Roseville, MN 55113, United States | The Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy (MNCWTA) is a collaboration between the Child Safety and Permanency (CSP) Division at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and the Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare (MICW) at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
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