Blog

Last week, as part of our speaker series, we welcomed Dr. Cynthia Orellana whose compelling personal and professional journeys resonated with our learners and inspired them. The child of immigrants, a first-generation college student and doctora, Cynthia was candid, authentic, and vulnerable as she reflected on the colorism, sexism, and racism that she encountered, as well her moments of self-doubt and personal struggles within her family. Her talk was uplifting and precisely what students needed at this point during the semester.

With the event scheduled in the evening while our adult learners are juggling their myriad responsibilities, it gave us not only a glimpse of their lives but also reinforced our responsibility to continue meeting students where they are. Two of our attendees were literally in public laundromats doing their family’s laundry. One even had her daughter with her listening to the talk while folding clothes. Cynthia’s vulnerability led one student to speak of the stigma and mistreatment she faced as a teen mom. Another spoke of her need to persist through completion of her degree for her children.

The engagement that evening was in many ways a live manifestation of higher education expert Tara Yosso’s Cultural Wealth Model.[1] In her model, Yosso argues that there are six types of cultural capital that first-generation college students of color bring to their academic experience: aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistance. (I provide a brief description below and recommend reading her articles).

At Urban College of Boston, we focus not on the perceived deficits of our learners, but on their assets and the capital they bring and need to continue to build on. We have seen students cook, nurse sick children, and take their lunch break at work while attending these remote uplifting forums. Beyond providing them with a formal education, we want our students to have access to and to create networks that will serve them at Urban College and beyond. So, if you know adults whose lives cannot stop because they are going to college, refer them to us. Urban College meets students where they are.

1. Aspirational capital—a student’s ability to keep their eyes on the prize and stay hopeful about the future despite the obstacles they may encounter. This also includes their community’s aspirations for them, especially when they do not mirror their current circumstances. Going beyond is partly what aspirational capital is about.
2. Linguistic capital—a student’s ability to communicate using multiple mediums and to vary their communication style and tactics based on their setting. Code-switching is an example here as well as fluency in languages other than the dominant language and the use of visual arts, performance, storytelling and other arts to express oneself, understand and communicate with others.
3. Familial capital—a student’s pre-college community and family-based support and network that can sustain them through college and life. For LGBTQ students and those with intersectional identities, the kinship with communities that provide acceptance, and a sense of belonging are also vital to success in college and beyond.
4. Social Capital—a student’s collection of people and community resources, support, and important connections. College should help students expand and increase their social capital to succeed in their studies and their careers.
5. Navigational capital—a student’s adeptness at navigating “social institutions,” including spaces that were not created for them, where they do not feel a sense of belonging. It is their ability to maneuver through the barriers and succeed despite them.
6. Resistance capital—a student’s own experiences and their ancestry’s legacy of advocacy for change, equal rights, and advocacy for equitable access and outcomes. This kind of capital enables a student to contribute toward lasting, systemic change and improvements for themselves and others.

[1] Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), pp. 69–91.

https://scalar.usc.edu/works/first-generation-college-student-/community-cultural-wealth.10