Student apprenticeship program provides support for Hispanic Outreach Center
Yorkis Caro Pena is a psychology student minoring in Spanish at Georgia Southern University. She spent the majority of the Fall 2024 semester as an apprentice at the Coastal Children’s Advocacy Center (CCAC) Hispanic Outreach Center in Savannah.
Caro Pena would greet children and their families coming into the center, all while working on things like document translation, developing social media content and preparing for community events.
“While we want to make materials to educate the parents about our services, we’re also making sure that the children know that we’re advocating for them,” explained Caro Pena. “We want to connect directly with the children so that they know we’re here.”
The nonprofit agency provides free services for children who have been abused or witnessed violence, as well as additional services for non-offending family members. And although the CCAC has been in operation since 1991, Executive Director Rose Grant-Robinson realized there was a population they were not targeting.
“I knew there was a big Hispanic population here,” explained Grant-Robinson. “But they were not coming to us.”
That’s what led Grant-Robinson to open the Hispanic Outreach Center in 2016. Since then, she and her staff have helped more than 300 Hispanic children escape abusive situations, unpack their trauma and reclaim their lives.
As with any nonprofit, their team is small, operating on a thin budget and looking for any help they can get. That’s where Georgia Southern Spanish professor Grant Gearhart, Ph.D., saw an opportunity for students to get involved through the Community Apprenticeship Program run by the Department of World Languages and Cultures.
“I’ve always wanted to do a community service learning program for our students,” he said. “So when I found the Hispanic Outreach Center, I asked them if they would be interested in having students work with them.”
Grant-Robinson jumped at the chance to get students in the Center.
“I love interns,” she said. “Yes, I love interns, because I want them to have hands-on learning. Come in, put your boots on the ground and feel it for yourself.”
Caro Pena, a psychology major with a minor in Spanish who hails from the Dominican Republic, did just that.
“I want to specialize in mental health advocacy and, you know, offering help specifically to the Hispanic community,” she said. “So this was a perfect opportunity.”
Spanish major Alexandria Shearer also served in a similar role at the Center. She said that ultimately, it’s not just the kids who are benefiting from the work the Center does.
“Working with this team gave me hope in humanity even when facing such an ugly side of what humanity can do,” explained Shearer. “The advocacy center provides support to families and children as they face some of the most difficult challenges. It was an honor to learn from an organization dedicated to giving children the genuine, authentic care and attention they deserve.”
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