Staff Contact - Sandra Rocio Castro, Associate Director

Our Public Service Programs are designed to invigorate and encourage linkages between the University and diverse Latino, Caribbean and Latin American communities in ways that benefit the citizens of the State of New Jersey. Public Service programs build on community efforts to utilize the arts and culture as an education tool in order to help increase understanding and appreciation of Latino/as' diverse heritage. Contemporary artists are supported through residency programs, linking the creative with the academic and the civic community. Student and alumni programs help cultivate a network of friends supportive of Latino/a artistic and cultural accomplishment and scholarship.

Public programs include:

Latino/a Scholars and Latino/a Youth in Progress Tutoring Programs

The Center for Latino Arts & Culture works closely with the Rutgers University Student Employment office in offering tutoring positions to over 70 federal work study students, who are trained to provide an enhanced tutoring, academic assistance curriculum and a mentoring program for students attending local New Brunswick schools.

Currently, the CLAC places tutors at the following schools:

Roosevelt Elementary School (Downtown New Brunswick)
Lincoln Elementary School (Barlett Street)
New Brunswick Middle School (Van Dyke Avenue)
New Brunswick High School (Livingston Avenue)
New Brunswick Health Sciences & Technology High School (Downtown New Brunswick)

Programs run both in-school and after-school. After-school programs are run in collaboration with the Puerto Rican Action Board.

AMARD&V - Healing Through The Arts Summer Camp

Launched in 1997 through a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Health Promotion Program, the Artists Mentoring Against Racism, Drugs and Violence (AMARD&V)—Healing Through the Arts Summer Camp is a creative art youth program that targets economically disadvantaged Latino and African American youth in New Brunswick and seeks to encourage positive interaction between them. Rutgers students and alumni work to staff the program and serve as youth counselors and faculty.

The purpose of the program is to engage Latino and African American youth in the creative process enabling them to master multidisciplinary art skills, increase understanding of respective cultures, strengthen critical thinking skills and foster proficiency in performance through team-building, discussions and art-making. A significant goal of the program is to cultivate among the students a sense of belonging to a broader community, where they see themselves as fully productive "cultural citizens", acknowledging they are valuable members of this society.

Additional partners in the program include The Puerto Rican Action Board in New Brunswick, the Suydam Street Reformed Church, and the Institute for Arts and Humanities Education of New Jersey. Over the past ten years, the program has been funded by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Merck, and other sponsors.