East LA College launches nation's first community college program in Central American studies

East Los Angeles College will offer the state's first community college program in Central American studies, officials announced Friday.

East LA College President Alberto J. Roman said the program will be the first of its kind for a community college in the entire nation.

"Central Americans are the fastest growing demographic across the country according to a 2021 study by the Pew Hispanic Center. In California alone, Salvadorans make up the largest population outside the country of El Salvador, followed closely by people from Guatemala and Honduras," Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo said in a statement. "Given the history of civil strife in Central America, many 1.5 and second-generation Central Americans who immigrated or were brought to the US as children don't know the history of their countries of origin, nor the contributions of the Central American diaspora to the United States."

Carrillo, the only Salvadoran immigrant elected to the state legislature, was co-author of a bill that made ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement in California.

Students who complete the new program, which will be housed in East LA College's Chicano/a Studies department, can earn an Associate's of Arts Degree in Central American studies or take five transferable units in courses such as the Central American Experience, Central American Literature, or Central American Film to a Cal State University or University of California campus.