Jose M. Alamillo. Photo by BB Rivas / El Concilio Family Services
Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series of stories profiling the award-winners of El Concilio Family Services 2015 Latino Leadership Awards. The awards gala will be held on Saturday, June 6 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center. Click here or call 805-486-9777 for more information.
Amigos805 staff reports
José Alamillo, born in Cueva Grande, Zacatecas, and raised in Limoneira Del Mar, a lemon ranch owned by Limoneira Co. in Santa Paula, is a professor of Chicano/a Studies at CSU Channel Islands. The son of immigrant parents is being acknowledged for his community engagement and support of DREAMers – undocumented immigrants who might be eligible for the White House’s “deferred action” initiative.
Alamillo himself arrived to Ventura County as an undocumented child immigrant and attended local public schools in Ventura before attending and graduating from UCSB in 1992. He attended graduate school at UC Irvine, then took his first faculty job at Washington State University in 1999. He returned to Ventura County in 2008 to build the Chicano/a Studies Program at CSU Channel Islands.
“As an undocumented student once myself, I remember how concerned I was about attending college without federal financial assistance,” Alamillo stated in his nomination letter. “This personal experience motivates me to continue helping undocumented students. Recently I assisted an undocumented student who was on the verge of dropping out and becoming homeless because of lack of financial support. With my help, she got a part-time campus job and aid from local churches, enabling her to continue her studies and cover living expenses.… I always tell my students that when you enter my class ‘you become my student for life’ so I will help them achieve their career goals upon graduation.”
The 26th annual Latino Leadership Awards will begin with a reception at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 6 at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800 Hobson Way, Oxnard. Tickets are $200 each or $1,500 for a table of eight (8).
Click here to RSVP. For more information on El Concilio’s programs and services or reservations for the awards gala, visit www.elconciliofs.org or call 805-486-9777 ext. 228.