At the 2025 Changemakers Summit, students were trained in how to leverage their strengths and advocate for their communities in a tough educational moment

Every year, hundreds of representatives from over 300 of UnidosUS’s Affiliate partners travel to Washington, DC to take part in UnidosUS’s three-day Changemakers Summit to discuss a wide range of policy and advocacy issues. And each year, youth and education are some of the biggest focal points, but this year, with looming news of the Trump Administration’s plans to dismantle the Department of Education, that focus was even stronger.  

Setting the stage for the Summit, UnidosUS hosted a pre-summit convening for education-affiliated organizations where they discussed federal actions impacting the education ecosystem, including immigration policy.  

Led by UnidosUS’s top education and immigration directors and policy analysts, this session explored the ways executive orders strike fear and undermine civil rights on equal access to education. For example, the Trump Administration has removed requirements that ICE be barred from sensitive locations such as houses of worship and schools and has pressured states like Florida to roll back in-state tuition for DACA students. Presenters also noted that the elimination of the Latino-focused White House Education Initiative will have an adverse effect on college readiness and training programs while the ongoing attack on DEIA practices has put on leave or dismissed federal employees working for the English Language Acquisition Office, terminated grants and contracts for TQP and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) Program.  

The session also forecasted the impact of dismantling the Department of Education (ED). While some of these changes face legal and legislative hurdles, such as the requirement of Congressional approval to formally eliminate the department, concerns remain about attempts to restructure federal education oversight in ways that could undermine student privacy, reduce accountability and shift resources away from communities that need them most. 

Reaffirming UnidosUS’s commitment to civil rights  

As an organization that came up through the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, UnidosUS has spent more than five decades responding to challenges like these and remains steadfast in its mission of serving Latinos and populations vulnerable to these policies.  

“We have a vision. It is filled with hope, opportunity, belonging, respect — a vision of strong values like hard work, family, faith, community and the belief in the dignity of everyone,” UnidosUS President and CEO Janet Murguía told Changemakers participants during a luncheon to help inaugurate the event which took place February 24 to 28. “Putting Latinos and other working class families on the path to economic prosperity needs to be at the center of that vision, of an inclusive America that offers that opportunity to everyone.” 

Comments like those were meant to inspire and fire up the 150 participants, including Affiliate staff members and young people, for dynamic, small-group listening sessions on the education and immigration details most impacting their organizations and their lives. The first question dealt with the most immediate blow of President Trump’s rapid-fire succession of executive orders — the budget cuts.  

UnidosUS noted the economic and workforce impacts included a possible reduction in workforce development and Latino economic mobility initiatives, potential cuts to job training and digital skills programs, delays in federal funding for community organizations, pressure on the private sector to discontinue equity hiring efforts and decreased corporate and philanthropic support. In fact, in mid-February, the education sector saw $600 million in cuts to grants that fund teacher preparation programs, address teacher shortages and provide stipends, tuition and mentorship to students.  

How has this impacted your program’s delivery, services, operations, funding and communications strategy, asked the panel’s speakers, made up of Education Policy Project Director Amalia Chamorro, Vice President of Education Elizabeth Zamudio, and Vice President of Workforce Development Luis Quiñones.   

Not surprisingly, most participants said they’d had to adjust how they run their programs and services. They also said that the current climate of uncertainty has led many of their constituents to become fearful of attending doctors appointments or attending school.  

“It was definitely heavy at times,” said Tommy Ramirez, director and principal of the San Diego-based public charter school and UnidosUS Affiliate MAAC (Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee on Anti-Poverty of San Diego County, Inc.). His school serves a majority Latino population, and many of those students participate in the UnidosUS Pioneras en STEM and Escalera programs, which focus on STEM preparation, empowerment and broader educational and career readiness.  

“I take a lot of notes, but there were times when I just had to stop typing and look at an email because my shoulders were so full, so heavy. There was just so much, and hearing it all made my ears hot and red and my body achy,” recalled Ramirez.  

But the group also discussed how they were getting creative to pool resources and build a united civil rights front. For example, UnidosUS Affiliates have been strengthening or growing partnerships and coalitions with other non-Latino-identifying organizations who share similar missions and values; charging businesses fees for formerly free services such as translations and provision of meeting space in their facilities; and amping up their external communications with news outlets who can help them to disseminate the latest information about the state of their organization and fundraising events.  

Challenging as these meetings and workshops were, Ramirez says the stories of both struggle and strategic organizing and litigation gave him the strength and the inspiration to keep going and to pump his students up as they made their way to speak for the first time to elected officials on Capitol Hill.  

“Now it’s like if one of these situations happens, there are good people with good ideas who I can reach out to, so it did make me feel that I’m part of a larger network, that I can lean on others rather than feel alone in defending my school,” Ramirez said.  

Meanwhile, participants reaffirmed their commitment to direct government advocacy, especially at the federal level where the most notable changes are taking place. That commitment involves ongoing efforts to build a rapport with sympathetic Congress members prepared to speak on behalf of their community and speak up about executive orders surrounding things like education or immigration that directly and immediately impact the lives of Affiliate constituents. It can also include sensitization efforts to win over members of Congress on the other side of the political aisle.  

And finally, they emphasized that students, especially those in high school, are likely the demographic most affected over the longest period of time, and therefore the ones who need to be empowered to act now.  

“I can tune into the work of organizations in my hometown, reach and empower those with less information,” one youth participant said during the listening sessions.  

“As a DACA recipient, my commitment is to protect children. I will get my master’s in social work and use my lived experience to advocate for policies that safeguard children regardless of legal status,” said another, referring to the Trump Administration’s recent removal of guidance that largely prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering sensitive spaces such as churches and schools.  

Developing a growth mindset for leadership success  

The first listening session proved that Latino youth are ready and willing to carry the civil rights torch for theirs and other underserved communities, but in these unprecedented political times, UnidosUS and its partners reiterated that students should never doubt their ability to do so.  

During a second panel titled Developing a Growth Mindset for Leadership Success, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI)’s Learning & Innovation Director Guillermo Raya told a group of 40 students aged 15 to 20 to beware of attempts to instill in the American public a fixed mindset which would suggest intelligence is static, and to instead embrace a growth mindset which believes all people can grow and change themselves and those around them by believing in humanity’s power to innovate and to persevere. This meant recognizing that skills and intelligence are developable; effort drives learning; challenges can also be opportunities; feedback is essential; mistakes are learning opportunities; and there is power in the word “yet,” meaning that change takes time, patience and persistence.  

Raya also reminded students that “applications” aren’t just something one downloads on their smartphones, but rather, they are soft skills, such as learning to build connections, maintaining a sense of self-awareness in which one works to become what they want to be, asking questions even when it feels uncomfortable or awkward, engaging in deep self-reflection and embracing challenges.  

“My students loved that workshop. In fact, they kept bringing up that language throughout our trip,” said Ramirez. “When you have a problem, don’t see it as a problem. Turn it into an opportunity, stay positive and don’t give up,” Ramirez said he and the students kept telling each other as they struggled to find the offices of their Congresspeople or ponder how best to state their cases.  

“It’s so scary right now with all of these changing politics and so much negativity, but having a growth mindset helps their self-esteem,” Ramirez said.  

Navigating leadership through action 

With the principles of self-reflection and self-empowerment well defined, CHCI’s representatives turned to the next step: taking action. In this next session, students and young leaders were taught the fundamentals of policy, including learning what policy is and how policies are developed, and how to analyze and implement it in real time. In fact, they used the case of the TikTok ban to help the students consider how a policy might impact their current and future lives.  

Panelists, including UnidosUS Education Policy Project Senior Policy Advisor Jenny Muñiz, Microsoft Director of Congressional Affairs Anais Carmona and Young Invincibles National Policy and Advocacy Director Krystal Milam, as well as CHCI Senior Vice President of Programs and Alumni Affairs Caroline Gonzalez Scott as moderator, all emphasized the critical role young people play in shaping policies that affect their daily lives, and that ongoing civic engagement, advocacy and leadership are all key to influencing decision-making processes.  

Building on the growth mindset panel, these speakers reminded participants that their lived experiences are also their expertise; that they should see themselves as bridging knowledge gaps between younger generations and policy makers, who are generally much older; that young constituents in UnidosUS’s Affiliate network often are immigrants or come from immigrant families who arrived in the United States believing in and seeking out democracy, and therefore can be strong brokers of it. At the same time, the speakers emphasized that young people can easily leverage online platforms like reliable news sources to stay updated on policy changes, and leverage social media to engage in activism, while also using in-person forums to show up in support of the causes they care about.  

“Latino young people aren’t just participating in democracy — they’re shaping it. Many are the first in their families to step into the role of voter, advocate or policymaker. By raising their voices, they not only represent their communities but also pave the way for others to follow,” Muñiz told ProgressReport.co.  

While UnidosUS is addressing a myriad of education policy issues at the moment, leaders zeroed in on the following as the ones where they most need young people in the community to be advocating alongside them:  

• Education funding including Pell Grants and school resources 

• Immigration policies such as ICE raids policies surrounding deportations 

• Climate change and environmental protections 

• Accountability for tech companies whose platforms may be used to spread misinformation 

They also encouraged students to discuss these issues with their elected officials at all levels, and attend events in their communities such as school board meetings.  

Student highlights 

During a final Q&A session, UnidosUS education policy experts responded to a series of questions from students on such topics as how Latino high school students can find and define their educational and vocational path, and advice for entering the tech industry or obtaining an internship in public policy, as well as ideas to encourage young Latinos to vote, not just in the presidential elections but also in the midterms.  

Panelists responded by reminding Latinos that many of them are bilingual, which is a huge asset for the global tech world, not to mention the world of public policy which so often hinges on multicultural diplomacy. They also encouraged students to leverage their support systems and seek out mentors in their areas of interest and feel confident asking for help or networking, while openly stating their interests, talents and assets within those contexts to ensure that the people they network with can better direct them on their paths.  

Finally, they encouraged young people to lead by example by being the first in their family to vote, creating and sharing voter guides, and registering eligible members of their community to vote while instilling in them the importance of civic engagement for the fomenting and preservation of democracy.  

Whatever their course of action, the conference reminded attendees of the power of their voices and their lived personal experiences. During MAAC’s visit to Capitol Hill, MAAC high school senior Emelly Chavolla came prepared with a spirit of activism and some concrete talking points about affordable housing issues, which are likely to be exacerbated with recent cuts to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). 

“I’ve seen students without stable housing, and I’ve seen my own family struggle with rent and finding a home. As we watch housing prices soar to unbelievable heights, it’s become clear that something needs to change,” she wrote. “My mom is a single mom with three kids and with no one to help her pay the rent. We’ve had times where we have almost been kicked out of our apartment due to my mom owing money. We’ve had cards delivered to our door saying we have three days to pay the rent or we’re out of our apartment.” 

She got to take those talking points to U.S. Representative Juan Vargas and Senator Adam Schiff. “It was an amazing experience to talk to someone who actually helps make laws,” she wrote in an MAAC blog about her Changemakers Summit experience. “”Hearing from people who work in government made me realize that even students like me can be part of something bigger.”