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STEM outreach program for Latinx youth
with Nissan North America

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Project: STEM Outreach Program for Latinx Youth

Client Company: NISSAN North America

Department: Diversity Office

Dates of project: 2013 - 2019

Type of Project: Culture-Driven Outreach & Engagement Plan

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Director of the Nissan Americas Diversity Office, Robert Wilson (now CST co-founder), hired Culture Shift Team partners Ann Gillespie and Marcela Gomez to engage Latinx students in the branding of the corporation’s Latinx community outreach plan which focused on increasing access to STEM and educational opportunities.

 

The team was also tasked to brand the outreach campaign, create marketing assets, produce video, assist in event management, and develop branded promotional items.

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Naming It With Nissan Video

 For the project CST engaged one of Nissan’s community partners, a Latinx college student group called Futuro Inc, to help with the brand development. The Futuro students gathered at NISSAN's headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee to help create the name of the STEM outreach program for Latinx youth, selected the logo from design proposals, and helped to select a thank-you gift for students participating in Gen I events to share with a parent or mentor. The students created the name that was relevant in both English and Spanish.

 

GEN I, or “Generation Innovation”, is a word play on the common generational age grouping conventions “Gen X” or “Gen Y”. Specifically, they are students in the young millennial and post- millennial age group of 14 and 21.

 

GEN I students are innovative, ambitious, technologically savvy, family-oriented and eager to make an impact on their communities. Coming of age in a world where technology is redefining social connections, GEN I youth are empowered to bypass traditional methods of social change in favor of faster, more collaborative, and more organic methods of expressing their ideas.

 

They are vocal but communicate using platforms that they create and popularize for themselves. They are informed and connected but gather their information straight from the source without filters. They see possibilities rather than boundaries. GEN I youth are ambassadors for brands that best represent who they are and what they value. GEIN I students have a story to tell. It is a story of passion, perseverance, innovation, and change.

After the GEN I brand was launched and implemented successfully with Latinx youth, NISSAN used it to co-brand all of their youth outreach programs. In 2014 the following events managed by CST were part of GEN I powered by NISSAN brand.

 

• AHORA Student Days

• Parents Step Ahead

• LULAC Press Conference

• FUTURO Conference

• ENSEÑA Awards

• YMCA Latin American Scholarship Dinner

• NCLR National Conference (Now UNIDOS US)

• ALPFA National Conference

• SHPE Conference

GEN I Logo 
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