Celebrates 11th Anniversary and Graduation

The 2003 group of the San Antonio Community Education Leadership Program (CELP) recently became the 11th group to graduate from the program. More than 125 emerging and current leaders in the San Antonio community have participated in the CELP. Dr. Blandina Cárdenas, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio, gave the keynote speech during the graduation presentation.

Mr. Tony Rivera, the founding chair of CELP, said, “The CELP classes are unique because we deal with leaders to confront racism and diversity from A to Z, focusing on how to collaborate and build an infrastructure to benefit communities.”

CELP fellows develop skills of cross-cultural collaborative leadership. They move beyond perceived differences, learn how to identify common goals, and begin to form alliances with diverse community constituencies to resolve common problems. They use their community environments as the primary context for examining and discussing community issues. Through participation in a series of on-site training activities (seminars, site visits, skills development workshops, and individual and group projects), fellows gain highly practical knowledge about policies and program strategies for community improvement.

For more information about CELP contact Mr. Aurelio Montemayor at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Ms. Estella Rivera at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments and questions may be directed to IDRA via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[©2003, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Every effort has been made to maintain the content in its original form. However, accompanying charts and graphs may not be provided here. To receive a copy of the original article by mail or fax, please fill out our information request and feedback form. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]