Regeneración Tlacuilolli: UCLA Raza Studies Journal

This article examines the positive educational and social outcomes of a community based learning class in a Chicana and Chicano Studies program at the University of New Mexico. The study examines the experiences of a small cohort of students and utilizes qualitative data, including a survey, interviews, and a focus group. The authors argue that the experience students shared working in the community, studying Chicana and Chicano materials and approaches, and dialoguing within collective community-oriented spaces empowered them to identify themselves as agents of social change. Students communicated that members of community organizations can serve as important teachers and mentors because they possess cultural capital that allows them to address complex community issues. In addition, students also described a new sense of appreciation for culturally relevant materials in the Chicana and Chicano Studies course. At the completion of the course, students reported a higher degree of self-confidence that they could and should work to promote positive social change in their own identified communities. Overall, students’ sense of self efficacy multiplied within a community based learning environment and, as a result, students reported a feeling more confident about their academic achievement and potential than before taking the Community Based Learning (CBL) course.