Organizations Part of ELAS
The organizations below are student-led organizations that have their own subsequent goals to enhance community building and foster Latine higher education. These organizations are still part of the mother organization, ELAS, and all elected officials are elected through ELAS annual Executive Board Elections
ALL organizations below are active. Please check their websites or social media for updates on membership or program events!
Student-run project that serves as both a space for retention support and free services for current UCLA undergraduate students.
Created in 1989 as MEChA’s student retention project.
Soñar is housed under the CRC (Campus Retention Committee)
Offers mentorships, paid-positions, internships, volunteer opportunities, social and cultural events, and a gender and sexuality component.
Career access program dedicated to supporting high school students develop holistically, academically, and professionally through free mentorship, workshops, and Shadow Day field trips at UCLA.
Founded in 1998 alongside the creation of the SIOC (Student-Initiated Outreach Committee)
Created in response to low admission numbers from Latine students, exacerbated by Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action at public universities.
Established in 1996, Yolotzonyo (formerly known as the Raza Youth Empowerment Project, RYEP).
Provides mental health wellness and college readiness resources to students interested in four-year universities, by facilitating field trips to UCLA that include tours and workshops.
Utilizes restorative and transformative justice + a liberatory education framework.
Instagram: @Yolotzonyo
Email: mechadeucla.yolotzonyo@gmail.com
Events Hosted by ELAS
Below are three of the largest annual events hosted by ELAS. Each annual event is led by elected ELAS Board Officials. For information on dates and sign-ups, please check our "Upcoming Events" tab.
Our conference aims to provide future generations throughout California with information on the college application process as well as expose them to a variety of immersive academic, cultural, and political workshops in a bilingual environment. In addition to students, we aim to provide parents/guardians with this information so that they may better assist their children in their academic endeavors. The main objective of the YEC is to inspire our attendees to reach their fullest potential as academics, but most importantly as holistic individuals. We aim to educate students who attend on their diverse Latinx/Chicanx culture and help them realize the importance of pursuing higher education. We want students to become self-advocates and empower themselves by gaining knowledge on how to achieve a higher education, because in our experience, self-identified Latinx/Chicanx students often lack access to this type of crucial information at their respective schools. Ultimately, we hope to encourage under-represented youth to reach their highest potential in whatever it is that interests them so that they may become productive individuals, give back to their communities, and ideally, become leaders of those communities in need.
Felicidades & congratulations on behalf of El Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlan (M.E.Ch.A) on your acceptance to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
We would like to invite you and your family to M.E.Ch.A de UCLA's 20th annual Latinx Transfer Day (LTD). We know how excited you and your familia are for your acceptance to one of the nation's top academic institutions, and we look forward to helping you celebrate this momentous occasion. Students and their guests will be treated to food, a People of Color tour of the UCLA campus, and entertainment throughout the day.
This celebration was created to honor the accomplishment of these Latinx students and to help ease their transition into the university, and emphasize that they will have a safe space and community for them at UCLA. As transfer students, we are aware that it can be a struggle to acclimate to the UC system so we aim to make this experience smoother.
The Latinx Celebration at UCLA was created after In 1972, a small group of Latinx students walked out of their Letters and Science commencement ceremony in response to the lack of cultural relevance, the English-only environment that did not allow for their families to understand, and the limited amount of tickets that prevented all of their family members to attend. Since 1973, Latinx Graduation (previously known as Raza Grad) has provided a culturally empowering ceremony including English and Spanish speakers and performances representing historical traditions from various parts of the Americas.