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| Community service learning students participated in “Matricula Service Day” on Oct. 9 at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center. |
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| Children made arts and crafts while waiting for family members to obtain their ?Matricula Consular? official identification card. |
Faculty and students, together with the Mexican Consulate and various Inland Valley community organizations, sponsored a successful “Matricula Service Day” on Oct. 9 at the Cal Poly Pomona Downtown Center. The Matricula Consular is an official identification card issued by the Mexican government through one of 48 consulate offices that helps immigrant workers in opening bank accounts, cashing checks, sending remittances abroad and defending their human rights.
As part of its “Community Outreach and Service Week,” the Mexican Consulate held a mobile clinic in the Inland Valley for the first time. Of the 1,000 immigrants who showed up to apply, 550 were granted their matricula identification card that day.
The day had a festival atmosphere with various notables attending, including Pomona Mayor Eddie Cortez. Angelina Sanbrano, director of the immigrant rights organization CARECEN, spoke on the need to build coalitions that could advance the successful legalization and integration of all immigrant families in the United States.
The effort, called an International Day of Service by the Mexican Consulate, formed a unique campus/community partnership between Cal Poly Pomona, Pitzer College, the Inland Valley/San Gabriel Valley Latino Roundtable, the Mexican Consulate, the GEMS club, Empowered Latinos in Action, the Latino Chamber of Commerce and the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center. Community service learning students from Cal Poly Pomona professor Jose Calderons ethnic immigration course and professor Gilbert R. Cadenas Chicano/Latino contemporary issues course participated in the daylong event.
For more information, contact Jose Calderon, Weglyn chair, at (909) 869-3524, or Gilbert Cadena, Ethnic & Women's Studies, at (909) 869-3595.