MISSION
To empower youth to become authors of their own future
VISION
Raices' vision for tomorrow is a day when Cuban youth are empowered with the necessary skills and opportunities to make a successful future for themselves and their families in Cuba. A day when youth on the island can freely participate in open exchanges about their ideas, hopes, dreams, and realities. When Cuban youth don't throw themselves into the seas as a last resort to the lack of opportunities and despair on the island. A day when Cuban youth can freely say, think, feel, or do what they want and not what they're told. When Cuban youth in and outside of the island can be reunited. Raices' vision for tomorrow is a day when Cuban youth are truly empowered to become the author's of their own futures.
THE PICTURE
Imagine thousands of Cuban youth in and outside of the island getting together at the University of Havana to hold an annual forum. Workshops, discussions, parties, and performances with Cuban students and young professionals from all over the world reflecting on their hopes and fears, their past experiences and future plans, and ultimately - how they can help each other. From career opportunities to meaningful friendships, this network and forum is a conduit for empowering all Cuban youth - without discrimination - to be successful in their personal and professional lives. Imagine an educational and professional exchange program featuring universities and companies that offer Cuban youth opportunities to work, study and play side-by-side and foster meaningful bonds with each other.
VALUES
- Hope
- Compassion
- Humility
- Dignity
- "Smart" Passion .
OBJECTIVES
- Establish and fortify links between the Cuban-American youth and youth on the island
- Educate ourselves about the Cuban reality
- Raise awareness in our communities by using cultural means to spread our message
BACKGROUND
Raíces de Esperanza is a national and international network of young people who care deeply about Cuba. We seek to educate ourselves on the Cuban reality, raise awareness in our communities of this reality, and establish supportive links with young people on the Island.
Raíces de Esperanza hopes to make a positive impact on Cuba - an issue often tangled with pain, separation, fear, emotion, misunderstanding, and politics - through academic and cultural initiatives guided by three basic principles:
amor, amistad y esperanza
love, friendship, and hope
Raíces de Esperanza, Inc., is a non-profit, non-partisan group sponsoring academic and cultural initiatives focused on youth development in promoting a pluralistic and democratic Cuban society. Our strategy has been to (a) build and unite a student network of campus groups, (b) sponsor academic conferences for Cuban-American youth, (c) mobilize youth abroad in solidarity, and (d) reach out to our counterparts on the Island. We have a committed volunteer core that works on all levels.
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Nationally (in the U.S.):
In 2003, 2005 and 2006, the Cuban-American student associations of Harvard, Princeton and Georgetown organized academic conferences to analyze the Cuban reality and support the youth on the Island who seek to be the authors of their own future. Following these conferences and under the auspice of Raíces de Esperanza, participants established student and young professional networks in 44 universities (including 24 campus groups) and 3 major cities (Miami, New York City, and Washington D.C.) composed of more than 700 alumni throughout the United States to support projects that promote a free Cuba.
Click the map to see where we are!
University Student Network:
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Boston College Cuban-American Student Association
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Boston University Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association*
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Carnegie Mellon University Cuban American Student Association*
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Columbia University Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association
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Cornell University Cuban-American Student Association
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Duke University Cuban-American Student Association
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Florida International University Free Cuba Foundation
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Florida State University Cuban-American Student Association
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Georgetown University Cuban-American Student Association
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Loyola of New Orleans Cuban-American Student Association*
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Marquette University Cuban-American Student Association*
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New York University Cuban American Student Association
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Princeton University Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association
- Rutgers Union of Cuban-American Students
- Seton Hall University Cuban-American Students
- Stanford University Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association*
- University of Florida Cuban American Student Association
- University of Miami CAUSA Students United for a Free Cuba
- University of Missouri Cuban-American Undergraduate Student Association*
- University of Pennsylvania Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association
- University of Virginia CASA Writers for Freedom*
- Yale University Cuban American Undergraduate Student Association
* Organization established in 2006-07 school term.
Representatives at Universities Without Student Organizations:
- Agnes Scott College
- Babson College
- Brandeis College
- Bowdoin College
- Colgate University
- Dartmouth College
- Emerson College
- George Mason University
- George Washington University
- Loyola of Chicago
- Miami Dade College
- Middlebury College
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Northwestern University
- Southwestern University
- St. Thomas University
- Swarthmore College
- Tufts University
- Tulane University
- University of California-Berkeley
- University of Kentucky
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Richmond
- University of Texas
- Wake Forest University
- Williams College
- Xavier University
Internationally (in Latin America and Europe):
In promoting international solidarity, Raíces has helped to develop and promote “Juventud Despierta!” an international youth solidarity campaign adopted by the International Youth Committee for Democracy in Cuba (IYCDC). The IYCDC is the youth affiliate of the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba, a group composed of former presidents, dignitaries, authors and intellectuals from numerous countries, including Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, José María Aznar of Spain and Luis Alberto Lacalle of Uruguay. The IYCDC is composed of young leaders from over 15 countries throughout Latin America and Europe. For more information please visit the following websites: www.JovenesPorCuba.org, www.JuventudDespierta.org, www.ICDCPrague.org.
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