The community and student organization Brown Issues at Sacramento State is helping prevent local Hispanic high school students from becoming another high school dropout statistic by providing outreach programs.

The majority of Brown Issues members have struggled to get to college because of obstacles like having undocumented parents, drugs, gang affiliations or lack of guidance and decided to help others with similar struggles.

“We understood how necessary it was to show high school students that people want to see them succeed,” said Sac State alumnus and member of Brown Issues Juan Diego Ochoa. “When we established Brown Issues at [Sac State] in 2010, there was not a robust [Hispanic] outreach to our local high schools and it was alarming because the majority of us, from Sacramento, struggled to make it to college.”

According to the article “Common Obstacles Latino Students Face & How to Overcome Them”  by the Academic University Parent website, many Latinos face various obstacles on their road to college like having undocumented parents or living in low-income neighborhoods, where schools lack college resources.

Psychology major and Brown Issues members Miguel Campos was once one of those high school students who struggled on their path to education.

Campos said at the age of 15 he dropped out of high school to sell drugs and worked with his father in the fields. However, he ended up making the right choice and went to Sacramento City College where he first became a member of Brown Issues.

“My first impression of college was not what I had imagined and I felt like I did not fit in,” Campos said. “When asking people how they describe a college student many say Caucasian, a [geek] or someone with glasses and when they describe a gangster they said dickies, loose clothes and everything else that described me.I thought to myself what am I doing on this campus I look different from everyone else, but joining Brown Issues changed that for me.”

Campos said after transferring to Sac State he maintained his membership with Brown Issues to help outreach to other students who are going through similar obstacles he faced.

Now Campos and the organization provide outreach programs to high schools like McClatchy and Luther Burbank to promote higher education and anti-patriarchy.

This year, Brown Issue held four outreach events which included creating an after school program for students at McClatchy High School. The program takes students out to field trips and provides a venting circle for students to speak about any obstacles or problems they are having with education.

In March, Brown Issues also led an effort to take more than 50 students from Burbank Luther and McClatchy high schools to see the Cesar Chavez movie premier. This field trip was incorporated into a leadership workshop where students were challenged to find their cause, learn how to influence others to support their cause and how to carry out needed actions to advance their cause.

One of their biggest events so far was the Brown Issues &. McClatchy High School Raza Conference which was held last Thursday.

McClatchy High School algebra teacher Manuel Favela, continued to be an active member of Brown Issues after graduating college and said the conference was created to encourage students to pursue a higher education.

“We had panels about women, especially Latinas in media, and invited guest speakers from Youth Empowerment and Goals Association, a youth empowerment group.” Favela said.“We also had college career panels and many of our members discussed obstacles they went through.These kinds of stories can help students know that its possible to go to college.”

A total of 150 C.K McClatchy students attended the conference with the majority of them being Hispanics and and at-risk students.

Favela said Brown Issues not only provides a community for members it is also a great learning opportunity for Sac State students who join.

“Through the discussions we have at meetings students learn to articulate arguments,which can be applied in a classroom setting,” Favela said. “It is also a way for them to vent any issues they have or problems they are facing in school while working with and giving back to the community.”