Event Speaker

John Chaisson-Cárdenas

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State 4H Youth Development Program — Iowa State University Extension and Outreach

John-Paul is an immigrant from Guatemala and has been recognized at the local, state and national level for his work with and for underserved and underrepresented communities.  Currently he is the State 4-H, Youth Development and K-12 Leader/Director at Iowa State Extension and Outreach.  John-Paul has held several public offices including State Director of Equity and Civil Rights at the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (aka. WA State Department of Education), four terms as Iowa Latino Affairs Commissioner before being appointed by then Governor Tom Vilsack to lead the Division of Latino Affairs.   In previous roles he has served as the Executive Director at the Latino Community Fund, and was the Public Policy Lead and Product Development Manager at the Northwest Area Foundation in St. Paul, MN, where he oversaw an eight-state multimillion-dollar portfolio designed to promote equity, build assets, reduce poverty and improve the lives of rural Latino families and communities. 

 

Previous academic appointments include National Training and Technical Assistance Director at the National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice, the Executive Director of the Institute for the Support of Latino/a Families and Communities, and a co-founder of the Disproportionate Minority Confinement/contact Research Center, all at the University of Iowa.   John-Paul has taught graduate courses in areas such as Discrimination, Diversity and Oppression, Latino Immigration to the United States, multicultural education and family/community development at the University of Iowa, the Iowa Highway Patrol Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, etc. 

 

John-Paul has a B.A. in Sociology/International Relations/Multiculturalism from Saint Mary University, a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Iowa, and completed his course work towards a doctorate in cultural competence education and training at the same institution.  As young adult, he worked in meatpacking in Kansas to put himself through school, and it was there he began his work in the United States as an advocate, community organizer and educator.