A CHICA PROJECT x BINGE THINKING COLLAB
Speaker:
Dr. Melissa Colón, University of Massachusetts Boston
Latine students are so often talked about through a single flattened story: one narrative, one struggle, one "type." Dr. Melissa Colón is here to blow that up.
An Assistant Professor at UMass Boston's Urban Education, Leadership, and Policy Studies program, Dr. Colón studies how Black and Latine youth actually experience school, and what those experiences reveal about the ideologies, policies, and programs shaping their lives. Her latest book, Critical Perspectives of Latino Education in Massachusetts, co-edited with Dr. Lorna Rivera, dropped in August 2025.
In this talk, Dr. Colón makes the case for ditching deficit narratives about Latine communities and replacing them with something bigger: education that actually centers their histories, knowledge, and dreams for the future.
Topics include:
Why one-size-fits-all narratives about Latine students and communities need to go
What educational futures look like when they're built around real histories, experiences, and aspirations instead of assumptions
How Chica Project's "Chicas in Bloom" program shows this kind of liberatory work in action
Moving from deficit thinking to recognizing cultural knowledge, collective strength, and the power to shape more just futures
About the Speaker
Dr. Melissa Colón is an Assistant Professor at the College of Education and Human Development at UMass Boston, and a Research Associate at the Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy and the Sustainable Solutions Lab. She earned her Ph.D. in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University, an M.P.P. in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning also from Tufts, and a B.A. in Education and History from Boston College.
Her research centers schooling as a developmental context for Black and Latine youth, most recently exploring how communities facing political, health, and environmental disasters navigate school, and what those experiences teach us about building critical, sustainable, and culturally empowering futures.
Agenda
7:00 PM — Doors Open (Grab a seat and drinks!)
7:30 PM — Lecture Begins
8:10 PM — Audience Q&A
8:30 PM — Drinks & Conversation
9:00 PM — Event Ends
Join us and grab a drink as we break every stereotype in the room, one drink at a time...
Get your tickets today and use code CHICAS50 for 50% off!
