Nuestra Grad Committee 2020-2021: April Update Statement
Dear UCI Latinx Community,
Last year brought many difficulties and uncertainties to everyone on campus. The pandemic caused abrupt changes and forced students to transition from in-person to online schooling. Unfortunately, the pandemic came at a time where the class of 2020 was preparing to graduate. Last year’s Nuestra Graduación’s participants were eager to celebrate their accomplishments with their loved ones and community. Nuestra Grad participants paid their dues and were expecting their graduation stoles and senior care packages. Unfortunately, during the transition from in-person to online, there was a lack of communication from the previous Nuestra Grad co-chairs. During this precarious time and unresponsiveness, it delayed the delivery of the packages to our community members and unfortunately were unable to resolve the issue until December 2020. This left many participants angry and disappointed and they withdrew their orders. Those that still received their packages were disappointed with the quality of the packages and items. The lack of transparency and miscommunication deeply hurt the relationship between Nuestra Grad and the community. If you would like to read the statement that was released in December addressing the issue, you can find it here https://nuestragraduci.weebly.com/ng-2020-statement.html.
The new committee of 2021 is fully aware of the situation and is working hard to rebuild the trust with potential Nuestra Grad participants. We do not want our predecessors’ actions to influence the new committee’s dedication. We are learning from past mistakes and are ensuring a situation like that does not occur in the future. The 2021 Nuestra Grad committee will uphold the traditional values of the mission behind the cultural celebration. We are committed to providing a festive, inclusive, and cultural celebration despite our online circumstances. As an organization that is run by students for students, we will always put the communities’ needs first. To rebuild the trust, we are going to ensure we are consistently communicating with our participants and being transparent about decisions made for the ceremony.
During the Spring quarter, we commit to the following;
We want to thank 2021 grads for being patient with the new committee as we update you all on this year’s virtual Nuestra Graduación. We hope that we can give you a beautiful ceremony that you can enjoy with your loved ones, despite our difficult circumstances.
To the 2019-2020 participants, the 2021 committee apologizes for any inconvenience and frustration. We understand how overwhelming it may have been for you. If you have not received a refund or stole, please contact us asap. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. We are more than happy to assist you.
With love and community,
2020-2021 Nuestra Graduación Committee
Last year brought many difficulties and uncertainties to everyone on campus. The pandemic caused abrupt changes and forced students to transition from in-person to online schooling. Unfortunately, the pandemic came at a time where the class of 2020 was preparing to graduate. Last year’s Nuestra Graduación’s participants were eager to celebrate their accomplishments with their loved ones and community. Nuestra Grad participants paid their dues and were expecting their graduation stoles and senior care packages. Unfortunately, during the transition from in-person to online, there was a lack of communication from the previous Nuestra Grad co-chairs. During this precarious time and unresponsiveness, it delayed the delivery of the packages to our community members and unfortunately were unable to resolve the issue until December 2020. This left many participants angry and disappointed and they withdrew their orders. Those that still received their packages were disappointed with the quality of the packages and items. The lack of transparency and miscommunication deeply hurt the relationship between Nuestra Grad and the community. If you would like to read the statement that was released in December addressing the issue, you can find it here https://nuestragraduci.weebly.com/ng-2020-statement.html.
The new committee of 2021 is fully aware of the situation and is working hard to rebuild the trust with potential Nuestra Grad participants. We do not want our predecessors’ actions to influence the new committee’s dedication. We are learning from past mistakes and are ensuring a situation like that does not occur in the future. The 2021 Nuestra Grad committee will uphold the traditional values of the mission behind the cultural celebration. We are committed to providing a festive, inclusive, and cultural celebration despite our online circumstances. As an organization that is run by students for students, we will always put the communities’ needs first. To rebuild the trust, we are going to ensure we are consistently communicating with our participants and being transparent about decisions made for the ceremony.
During the Spring quarter, we commit to the following;
- We will host two town hall meetings to provide the public with updates and details of the virtual ceremony. During the town hall, participants will also get the opportunity to voice their concerns, ask questions, and share their comments.
- To ensure there is transparency, the committee will also open the last 30 minutes of committee meetings to the general public. This is an opportunity for participants to partake in the planning process and provide their valuable feedback.
- Participants will be able to view on the website how the Nuestra Grad committee is allocating their funds.
- This year we are working closely with our advisors and have set up a university account to receive the payments for the sarapes and packages. Our committee will not be using venmo as a form of payment at all. This will enable us to be held accountable for the funds and the Latinx Resource Center will have the ability to monitor the funds and ensure that everything is ordered in a timely manner.
We want to thank 2021 grads for being patient with the new committee as we update you all on this year’s virtual Nuestra Graduación. We hope that we can give you a beautiful ceremony that you can enjoy with your loved ones, despite our difficult circumstances.
To the 2019-2020 participants, the 2021 committee apologizes for any inconvenience and frustration. We understand how overwhelming it may have been for you. If you have not received a refund or stole, please contact us asap. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out. We are more than happy to assist you.
With love and community,
2020-2021 Nuestra Graduación Committee
Nuestra Grad Committee 2019-2020: December Update Statement
Dear Nuestra Grad Participants,
We wanted to share updates with the community and be transparent about the situation over the last few months. In June, our co-chairs informed us that they would be able to take charge of delivering the stoles and care packages to participants. Unfortunately, throughout the summer we were unsure of the situation and received very vague updates from co-chairs. About a month ago (11/19/2020) and after several complaints from community members, committee members had to take matters into our own hands and completely transition all responsibilities to a small number of committee members to ensure that the situation was resolved as soon as possible. As a committee, we should have done our due diligence of ensuring the project was moving forward. We take responsibility for this and have since then, absolved the co-chairs from all duties due to the lack of transparency and failure to communicate and work with the rest of the committee. We did not have access to the stoles or care packages, prior to Thursday (12/10/2020).
Now that we have the stoles and care packages in our possession, we can update the community and let you all know that we will be shipping over winter break. Once again, we ask that you remain patient due to the high order of packages that we need to send out and the high demand of shipping during the holidays. In order to ensure you receive your items, we are asking everyone to fill out the following form with your permanent mailing address. https://forms.gle/hCbN4GYmub2Xm9Tg9.
Again, we want to apologize for our failure as a committee and the harm we have done to the Latinx community at UCI. We are trying to restore the damage done by exploring the possibility of refunding every single Nuestra Grad participant, but before we come to that decision an internal audit conducted by UCI will take place to ensure full accountability of all Nuestra Grad income and expenditures. We will be sure to keep you all updated on the progress of the audit and the possibility of being refunded.
We cannot thank you all enough for being so patient and understanding and we hope that this can restore your faith in Nuestra Grad as an organization. To make sure that this does not happen again, current committee members will work with the next cohort of co-chairs to put in place protocols and rules that each co-chair and committee member must follow. Including:
Google Form: https://forms.gle/hCbN4GYmub2Xm9Tg9
Sincerely,
Diana Echeverria, Helen Orozco, Jessica Rodriguez, Georgina Zamora
We wanted to share updates with the community and be transparent about the situation over the last few months. In June, our co-chairs informed us that they would be able to take charge of delivering the stoles and care packages to participants. Unfortunately, throughout the summer we were unsure of the situation and received very vague updates from co-chairs. About a month ago (11/19/2020) and after several complaints from community members, committee members had to take matters into our own hands and completely transition all responsibilities to a small number of committee members to ensure that the situation was resolved as soon as possible. As a committee, we should have done our due diligence of ensuring the project was moving forward. We take responsibility for this and have since then, absolved the co-chairs from all duties due to the lack of transparency and failure to communicate and work with the rest of the committee. We did not have access to the stoles or care packages, prior to Thursday (12/10/2020).
Now that we have the stoles and care packages in our possession, we can update the community and let you all know that we will be shipping over winter break. Once again, we ask that you remain patient due to the high order of packages that we need to send out and the high demand of shipping during the holidays. In order to ensure you receive your items, we are asking everyone to fill out the following form with your permanent mailing address. https://forms.gle/hCbN4GYmub2Xm9Tg9.
Again, we want to apologize for our failure as a committee and the harm we have done to the Latinx community at UCI. We are trying to restore the damage done by exploring the possibility of refunding every single Nuestra Grad participant, but before we come to that decision an internal audit conducted by UCI will take place to ensure full accountability of all Nuestra Grad income and expenditures. We will be sure to keep you all updated on the progress of the audit and the possibility of being refunded.
We cannot thank you all enough for being so patient and understanding and we hope that this can restore your faith in Nuestra Grad as an organization. To make sure that this does not happen again, current committee members will work with the next cohort of co-chairs to put in place protocols and rules that each co-chair and committee member must follow. Including:
- Working with the LRC (Latinx Resource Center) and advisors
- Needing a majority approval of how funds will be spent, including withdrawal of funds
- Financial reports will be mandatory and shared publicly with participants
Google Form: https://forms.gle/hCbN4GYmub2Xm9Tg9
Sincerely,
Diana Echeverria, Helen Orozco, Jessica Rodriguez, Georgina Zamora
