July 15th & 16th, 2026

CHORDS OF ESPERANZA

Queering Biliteracy, Centering Justicia

Presented by A Queer Endeavor & the BUENO Center

A two-day summit of creating sinfonías of solidarity & educational equity.

Across the country, educators, students, and communities are enduring attacks on bilingual education, inclusive curriculum, restrictions on queer and trans visibility, and policies that criminalize trans, genderqueer, immigrant and newcomer students and families. Yet schools remain powerful sites where, everyday, educators cultivate esperanza, build solidarities, center cariño, craft futures, and honor all students for who they are. We know these efforts are currently under threat, but we don’t have to endure them alone. Together, we can rally to orchestrate melodies for solidarity, strength, and perseverance.

Chords of Esperanza: Queering Biliteracy & Centering Justicia is a gathering for educators, scholars, community leaders, and youth-serving adults. When different movements and traditions come together, we create something stronger, more resonant, and more durable than any single note can strike. Together, we will bridge bilingual education, immigrant and newcomer justice, and queer pedagogy to ask and answer the questions, “How can we orchestrate sinfonías nuevas of solidarity in education? What new chords can we create by coming together?”

sponsored by

Why Chords?

We know that now, more than ever, we need each other.

Our goal is come together to create coalitions across lines of difference that cultivate meaningful change in education. Together, we will co-design and -co-create opportunities to foster transformative educational justice for those who need it most right now.

We will gather all educators and youth-serving adults and places to forge solidarity across roles, content areas, and school lines, ensuring that every educator is equipped to challenge oppression and advocate for a future of hope (esperanza).

Who is Chords for?

Teachers and educators from ECE - Higher Education
School staff and support
School leaders
Youth-serving adults
Community organizers and justice-oriented education advocates
University students and pre-service teachers
Researchers

What will I take with me?

Curricular and classroom tools and resources from hands-on workshops on humanizing pedaogies and culturally sustaining teaching, inlcuding translangauging and queer teaching practices
Research-backed insights and frameworks from interactive sessions on queer justice, identity, and community in education
Testimonios and calls to action from youth-led panels and conversations centering student voice and leadership
Artifacts from creative spaces for storytelling, healing, and artistic expression for educator wellbeing
Practical tools for advocacy, policy navigation, and educator agency
Wisdom from community-rooted sessions uplifting immigrant, multilingual, and intersectional experiences

Together, we'll explore questions about:

Reimagining Schools & Learning Spaces

In what ways can schools become spaces that honor the fluidity of language, culture, and gender/sexuality?
What possibilities open up when educators connect transformative pedagogies and critical, queer, bilingual, and/or immigrant-affirming practices to create spaces where our identities and full selves are celebrated as sources of collective strength?
How might queering biliteracy help us challenge rigid binaries (of language, identity, belonging, or family) that marginalize our students and ourselves?

Coalition Building, Solidarity & Collective Action

How can immigrant, newcomer, and queer students’ and educators’ stories, literacies, and leadership inform coalition-building practices that sustain intersectional movements for justice in education?
What does coming together across communities, identities, and issues require of you, me, and us?
How can we remix existing ideas and strengths to find more powerful melodies together? What might that remixing look like in the curriculum?

Resistance, Advocacy & Protection

What is the landscape of policy governing our learning spaces and pedagogical choices?
In what ways can we resisting pressures to conform to monolingual, cisnormative, and heteronormative norms?
How can educators, families, and communities collectively resist policies that attempt to silence languages, restrict queer/trans visibility, or criminalize immigrant students?

Join us!

July 15th & 16th, 2026

CEC Early College

2650 Eliot St, Denver, CO 80211

and Online

Let us know if you'll be attending!

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