20 Arizona Leaders Graduate from Instituto’s Monzón Fellowship

Monzón Fellowship

Nov 30

written by Vianey De Anda | 2023 Monzón Fellowship Alum and Instituto Communications and Marketing Manager

This year marked the third cohort of the Monzón Fellowship. It was our most diverse cohort yet, with participants representing the soft, hard, and official sides from 7 counties, including Apache, Coconino, Cochise, Maricopa, Navajo, Pima, and Yuma. When we embarked on this journey in May, many of us had no idea what to expect, or we anticipated something completely different. The Monzón Fellowship empowers emerging leaders from Arizona with the knowledge, skills, and support to create sustainable and scalable campaigns and programs for 2024 and beyond. But truthfully, this fellowship brought us together in ways we didn't imagine, while creating space to hold each one of us.

On Sunday, November 19, we celebrated the 2023 Monzón Cohort. That night, 20 fellows received their certificates of completion from Instituto Founder Luis Ávila, Shelley Jackson, our executive director, and our Program Design Manager, Emily Nuñez-Eddy.

The evening was filled with hugs and laughs - it was like a giant family reunion, with everyone introducing their loved ones to one another. Many of us had not seen each other since our last session in Tucson in October. The tunes from DJ J-Me Lee lit up the night throughout the Parsons Leadership Center at Camp South Mountain with lively sounds. As the night kicked off, everyone made sure to stop by the digital photobooth from Pretty Oh Productions to strike a pose or two or three -it was a blast! We had a delicious spread provided by the good people at Fat Freddy's catering and fun mocktail drinks from Salucita Mobile Bartending. We're also so thankful for the Blue House Coffee Roasters gals, who kept us caffeinated through the night.

*Instituto’s Social Media and Communications Coordinator, Trinity Miracle, recites “The Feast (Plethora)”*

Before receiving our certificates, we were grounded in a moment of spoken word performance by Trinity Miracle’s poem, The Feast (Plethora). We then heard from three exceptional fellows, Claudio Rodriguez gracefully led our land acknowledgment. Tearanie Chinn, our cohort representative, encapsulated our journey with her eloquent remarks. Loren Marshall, voted our most transformed fellow in this cohort, demonstrated her personal growth through her motivational speech and dare I say, official announcement for running for office in 2028?!

*2023 Monzón Alum Claudio “Cloud” Rodriguez welcomes attendees with Land Acknowledgement*

We lined up to receive our certificates, giggling excitedly as we waited for our names to be called. We celebrated each fellow with our cheers, applause, and hugs as they walked the stage. Although Maher “Mo” Osman could not attend due to a prior commitment and Briona Parkinson was absent due to unforeseen events, they were greatly missed! We created space for them by having a Mo cut-out, it was like having him there in person. And we made sure to capture Briona in our cohort picture via smartphone!

Of course, this fantastic night could not have been possible without the amazing Instituto team and all their dedicated work behind the scenes. A special thank you to Francisco Luna & Mitzi Castro at the Phoenix Language Justice Collective for providing their interpretation services and making this space accessible and enjoyable. And a shout out to Matty Steinkamp and Kassandra Alvarez at Mango Skies for capturing our joy, excellence, and welcoming that night. All these efforts together truthfully made the 2023 Monzón Graduation the place to be.