Between 2001 and 2003, Peter Kaufman, then Professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, several UNC alumnae, and then-current undergraduates collaborated with Chatham County and Jordan Matthews High School in Siler City to form the Scholars Latino Initiative. With considerable support from the school administration and especially the high school soccer coach and journalist, Paul Cuadros, SLI assembled high school students, paired them with UNC mentors and inaugurated early college classes to assist the high school students to overcome socioeconomic and legal barriers to higher education. Within a few years, SLI also opened chapters in Lee, Randolph, and Durham counties.

In 2008, as SLI continued its work at UNC and in North Carolina, Peter moved to the University of Richmond to open the chapter there. A few years later, he assisted community partners in Harrisonburg and Winchester Virginia to establish their SLI chapters that now constitute (with Richmond’s chapter) the Shenandoah Valley Scholars Latino Initiative. Peter is still the faculty coordinator at the University of Richmond.

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