The Texas Tech Alumni Association was absorbed into the university, effective July, marking the end of its independence as a nonprofit organization since its establishment in 1927.<\/p>\n
For nearly a century, the TTAA has been led by a board of directors and supported by alumni, housing many affinity-based networks. However, after TTAA\u2019s entry into the university, federal and state mandates restricted the support of these networks, forcing organizations like Raiders Rojos Alumni Association, Tech\u2019s Hispanic alumni network, to go in its own direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have great connections within the community,\u201d Janie Ramirez, executive programs director for Raiders Rojos, said. \u201cI actually think that people are more motivated to help us because they\u2019re not happy with how things have turned out.\u201d<\/p>\n
In July, the organization signed a letter with the Alumni Association, marking its independence. It has since secured an off-campus space and filed for 501(c)(3) status.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we were not going to be able to continue under the umbrella of the university because they could not support our efforts given the mandates that they are under,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n
Raiders Rojos has created a new board, consisting of alumni from around the U.S., including New York, Dallas and Houston.<\/p>\n
Despite these structural changes, Ramirez said the organizations sense of purpose has strengthened.<\/p>\n
In August, the organization awarded roughly $56,000 in scholarships, most of which came from donations by alumni and former recipients paying it forward, Ramirez said. However, the organization now relies more heavily on support from local businesses and individuals to sustain its efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter serving the university for 25 years, we know that we were largely responsible for the increase of Hispanic enrollment at Texas Tech because of the programs we\u2019ve been offering, because we\u2019ve been helping families learn the process (of college),\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Raiders Rojos plans to host its traditional graduation ceremonies in December and May, though rising costs have made fundraising a greater priority. Ramirez said the organization anticipated challenges this summer and began preparing early for the fall semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw this coming, and we\u2019ve been working on it through summer to get ready for the fall,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cRight now, we are taking registrations for our graduation event in December. Sadly, the numbers are still very low. By now, we usually have 100-plus students that have registered, and currently, we may have 12.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramirez explained that the organization no longer has access to the graduation lists it once used to reach out to upcoming graduates. Initially, the organization could directly contact all graduates, but without access, outreach efforts have become challenging.<\/p>\n
Despite these obstacles, Ramirez said the organization will continue hosting graduation ceremonies as its primary focus is to help Hispanics complete college and simultaneously celebrate their accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no plans to stop doing that (graduation ceremonies),\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cIt means that we have to raise more dollars to be able to continue to do it, because it\u2019s going to cost us more to do them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with its new status, Raiders Rojos remains committed to its founding purpose, ensuring access to higher education for all students, according to the Raiders Rojos website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Tech Alumni Association was absorbed into the university, effective July, marking the end of its independence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169,223],"class_list":["post-25930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}