Introduction to Equity Framework

Since 1981, the Puente Project has led the state in providing equitable instruction, academic counseling, and mentoring to support students marginalized by the educational system. When founded, the Puente Project was designed to support the college completion of Mexican-American and Latinx students, and over the years, has expanded to successfully support all students towards their higher education goals. As the Puente Project has a legacy of educational practices grounded in empathy, feminist pedagogy, community care, and professional development, and because educational communities are often at the forefront of progress, Puente is ready to meet this moment with an equity framework which articulates our commitments and guides our work.

As Puente practitioners, we recognize the continued systemic oppression caused by the educational system, and though our work is staked in this system, we commit to creating spaces for our students and ourselves to challenge the status quo.

We acknowledge that we do not keep our students safe with assimilationist practices and that in order to uphold our legacy in student service, we must reflect and directly address these struggles as we work to embody practices for our collective liberation.

With a critical awareness informed not only by research and experience, but also by the leadership of our students and the obstacles that impede their success, we have identified five key areas of our equity framework: racial and immigrant justice, linguistic justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, disability justice, and environmental justice.