In a racist society, it is necessary to deconstruct and reconstruct learning environments in education. Constructing inclusive and engaging learning environments starts with recognizing the strengths of underrepresented students and identifying the ways that learning environments fail to be inclusive of these strengths. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a way for students to embrace cultural identities, gain critical thinking skills, and develop sociopolitical awareness in classrooms (Ladson-Billings,1995). The purpose of this study is to understand how culturally sustaining pedagogy impacts the sense of belonging of the BIPOC community at the at a mid-size university in the west. To gain a better understanding on how large universities engage and foster a sense of belonging, I interviewed six BIPOC individuals about their experiences. The semi-structure interviews addressed individual’s personal educational experiences, including classroom experience, reflections on curriculum, and feelings of belonging on campus. In order to build inclusive classrooms, it is necessary to acknowledge the different experiences amongst the BIPOC community. Failing to acknowledge these differences hinders the ability to address institutional racism in higher education. Through this qualitative study, large universities gain a better understanding on how to support and foster the sense of belonging of the BIPOC community. The recommendations that the participants make are a call for action, and universities need to listen and act, so that the BIPOC community establish themselves and thrive in higher education.

Hey my name is Ruben Likoke and I'll be doing presentation on sense of belonging that goes with and the mental side of it. On how it affects students that come from different backgrounds, environments and opportunities haven't had to that they had to explore opportunities to succeed.

There is a growing necessity to meet the mental health care needs of Oaxacan farmworkers in Madera, CA. The mental health care the workers receive is often ethnocentric and fails to consider the structural and systemic factors contributing to their conditions and experiences. This project explores possibilities for adequate mental health care for local Oaxacan farm workers through qualitative methodologies such as testimonios and interviews. Potential findings will help increase access to behavioral health care practices that aim to recognize the importance of Oaxacan medical cultures and cultural understandings of illness and wellbeing.