AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin will mark Sept. 26 as “Con Mi MADRE Day” to celebrate the nonprofit’s work preparing Latina first-generation college students, and their mothers, for academic success.
Con Mi MADRE executive director Johanna Moya Fábregas said that the recognition is a “big deal.”
“It’s very heartwarming and reassuring that we are in a space, in a city, in a community that appreciates the work that we do and the population that we serve,” Fábregas said.
CMM, an active program since the 1990s, has been a nonprofit since 2007. In that time, Fábregas estimated the organization has helped more than 4,000 young women. She said that 97% of CMM participants graduated high school, 75% went to college and 70% graduated on time.
“[Our] participants have gone on to become professionals, have gone on to become leaders in their community, and it’s beautiful, because they have re-engaged with our organization,” she said. “They come back to give back to that community that supported them.”
Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes will deliver the proclamation ahead of Sept. 26’s city council meeting. She previously spoke to KXAN in April ahead of the organization honoring her with the Con Mi MADRE award for volunteering with CMM.
“When you’re seeing your parent go through the education system alongside you and have that support, it really helps first-generation high school and college graduates,” said Fuentes in April. “It’s these organizations that support educational attainment, that make all the difference.”
The recognition marks what CMM has done over the years, but Fábregas hopes to expand that work into the future. The organization is working with researchers to analyze the impact of its work, and wants to expand its program to the rest of Texas and beyond.
“We see growth in the scaling of the work that we offer, the support that we provide. It’s the relevance of involving families into the education of their students that’s not likely to change,” Fábregas said. “It’s impactful when you approach education from a holistic lens. The need for that type of approach will continue to be there beyond Austin, beyond Central Texas. I haven’t been aware of any other program, and we have a lot of partners and collaborations, that has the same focus that we do.”
Fábregas asks those who want to support CMM’s work to use #ConMiMADREDay on social media to celebrate the day, and to donate to the organization.