Latinos in the Heartland

“Latinos and Immigrants
in Midwestern Communities”

May 24-26, 2010
Stoney Creek Inn, Columbia, Missouri

About the Cambio de Colores conference

Cambio de Colores (Change of Colors) is an annual conference that, since 2002, brings together researchers, practitioners, and community members to discuss the issues that Missouri and all Heartland states face as a result of the demographic changes that became evident with the 2000 Census. That census clearly showed large numbers of immigrants—most of them Latino or Hispanic, but including significant numbers of migrants and refugees from Asia, Africa and Europe—settling in rural and urban areas of every state in the region. Cambio de Colores is a collaborative effort of the University of Missouri campuses and Extension, other educational institutions in the Midwest region, as well as government and private organizations.

The conference program builds on the sharing of university, government, and community resources, ranging from academic studies to the more applied perspective of people and institutions working at the heart of the changing communities.

The 2010 meeting will be a multi-state conference, thanks to the cooperation of the University of Missouri's Cambio Center with the interstate initiative “Latinos and Immigrants in Midwestern Communities,” North Central Education and Research Activity 216 (NCERA 216). 

The conference brings state-of-the-art research and best practices that benefit the participants and inform decision- and policy makers of the multiple ways in which Midwestern stakeholders are addressing the most significant demographic change in decades. The conference will provide a platform to present, discuss, share, learn, and identify critical areas where the development of information and promising practices will facilitate the successful transition of all newcomers into our communities, as well as to provide these communities with the tools necessary to address these changes in ways that are beneficial to all.  It will also be a very timely event to see the effects that current nation- and statewide discussions about immigrants and immigration are having in this transition.

The three-day conference convenes academic research and extension specialists, public and private service providers, grassroots organizations, state and local government institutions, politicians, corporations, and newcomers themselves. The conference is sponsored by the University of Missouri, in cooperation with community and state partners. It is mostly funded by participants (who have numbered 250 on average) and sponsors.

Past Meetings

The Hispanic and Latin American Faculty & Staff Association of the University of Missouri-Columbia (HLAFSA) took a principal role in creating and leading the first conferences, with the enthusiastic support of the University of Missouri System institutions, and the collaboration of many organizations in our state.

A groundbreaking, three-day event took place in March 2002 at the University of Missouri-Columbia: “Cambio de Colores (Change of Colors). Latinos in Missouri: A call to action!”

Subsequent conferences were in 2003 in Kansas City (“Neighbors in Urban and Rural Communities”), St. Louis in 2004 (“Gateway to a New Community”), Columbia in 2005 (“Connecting Research to Policy and Practice - Hoy y mañana.”) and again in 2006 (“Beyond Borders”).  In April, 2007, the conference went back to Kansas City (“Everyone Together – Todos Juntos”).  In 2008, Columbia hosted the 7th conference (“Uniting Cultures – Uniendo Culturas.” These conferences were aimed primarily to assess changes in the state of Missouri, but there was always a significant number of participants from other Heartland states with similar demographic shifts.

In 2009, the 8th Conference “Latinos in the Heartland” was held in St. Louis. It was the first conference organized with a Midwest focus, and included presentations from many states of the region.

The diverse and enthusiastic participation in these very inclusive events is demonstrating the relevance and the urgency of addressing today the challenges and the opportunities that arise in Missouri and other Midwestern states, as Latinos and other newcomers settle as workers, families and members of communities.

The ninth conference will take place at the Stoney Creek Inn, in Columbia, Missouri, May 24-26 , 2010.   The conference is organized along themes that include change and integration, education, health, civil rights, entrepreneurship and economic development.

This page updated:
11 May, 2010