Call for Proposals 2027

Cambio de Colores - Change of Colors logo with rainbow colored dots

Kansas City, June 10-12, 2027

This year marks the Cambio Center’s 25th Cambio de Colores-Change of Colors conference. We gather once again, this time to consider our theme of raíces, at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City from Thursday to Saturday, June 10-12, 2027.  We invite participants to consider Cambio’s enduring mission – to understand and support demographic change and integration – by exploring our roots, especially those from Latin America, and all the cultural practices, histories, literatures, politics, and philosophies that led us to this moment. 

We are interdisciplinary, and we enjoy learning about applied and non-applied scholarship, promising practices, and creative programs! We invite service providers, grassroots organizers, educators, artists, researchers, students, extension specialists and beyond to submit proposals (500-word limit) for posters, presentations, organized panels, or workshops, in English or Spanish. 

This year’s deadline is Friday, January 8, 2027, 11:59 pm CT. Read more below or download this PDF, and then you can click here to submit (the Qualtrics proposal system will open soon; for now, please read below to know what you have to prepare).

Important Dates

  • Friday, January 8, 2027 – Submission deadline
  • Monday, March 8, 2027 – Notification of acceptance 
  • Monday, April 5, 2027 – At least one author must be registered 
  • Thursday-Saturday, June 10-12, 2027 – Conference!  

All presenters will be responsible for their own travel expenses and conference registration fees. We offer a limited number of scholarships for students and community members; please visit our conference website or sign up for our monthly newsletters to get more information (email cambio@missouri.edu). 

Raíces: The Place We Build Together

This year, Cambio de Colores takes inspiration from our host city, Kansas City, Missouri, a place known for its heart, fountains, jazz, and location at the crossroads of Kansas and Missouri. Raíces: The Place We Build Together invites us to consider how our stories and relationships transform a location into a home, a place where each of us can develop roots to flourish. 

In 2027, there is no better place to reflect on our roots and the places we call home than KC!  Kansas City offers powerful examples for understanding how we root together. Its fountains evoke cultures and histories flowing across borders. Its jazz culture reminds us that many distinctive voices can listen and respond to one another and find a shared rhythm, while still preserving their uniqueness. Its heart represents the compassion, connection, and care that sustains newcomers. 

This year, we will take time to reflect on rooting, echando raíces, and how our roots are expressed through convivir, acompañar, y pertenecer in everyday practice. We want to ensure that newcomers, refugees, immigrants, and long-established residents can be heard, participate, lead, preserve their roots, and shape the future of the places they call home. This sustained work transforms welcoming into pertenencia for lasting change. Besides our conference keynotes and presentations, we will host local experiences with broader conversations about migration, history, race, education, health, labor, policy, culture, development, and generational change. We value community knowledge alongside academic research.

At this year’s conference, we invite presenters and participants to explore how we:

  • Tell stories that honor where we come from.
  • Build welcoming communities where people feel recognized, valued, and empowered to settle in and echar raíces.
  • Practice acompañamiento by learning, working, caring, and creating side by side.
  • Move beyond resilience toward joy, representation, opportunity, and lasting belonging.
  • Connect academic research, community knowledge, artistic expression, and lived experience.
  • Listen across differences and find a shared rhythm while honoring each distinctive voice.
  • Turn cultural pride and shared learning into impulso and collective action.

Join us in 2027 to honor our roots, share our stories, and build our future together!

Submission Information

The Cambio de Colores Conference focuses on dialogue among research, promising practices, and community development, where the three inform and depend on one another to help create positive outcomes in communities. To enable these fruitful dialogues, researchers are expected to connect with others by fostering discussions on the meaning and applications of their research and findings. Practitioners, artists, and community leaders likewise are asked to highlight the research needs and/or outcomes of their work. All presentations are expected to address change and integration in some way and should consider this year’s theme for inspiration. 

The submission link to Qualtrics will be posted at the top of this page!

Proposal Content

  • Contact Information: name, title, organization, address, phone, and email for each presenter
  • Biography: 100-word biography for each presenter
  • Proposal characteristics:
    • Choose one of these conference tracks (described in more detail below):
      • Civil rights and political participation
      • Community and economic development
      • Education and youth development
      • Health 
    • Choose the scope of submission: local, regional, national, or global
    • Choose the submission type: poster, presentation, panel, or workshop
  • Title: 15-word limit 
  • Abstract: between 100 and 150 words 
  • Proposal: no more than 500 words 

Requirements

Presenters will choose one of the following submission types:

  • Poster – on display throughout the conference with time for presentations to the audience to be determined
  • Presentation – on research or promising practice (15 minutes)  
  • Organized panel – combination of 3 or 4 presentations on research or promising practice (75 minutes) 
  • Workshop – on promising practice (75 minutes) 

Each research proposal must include:

  1. Objectives 
  2. Context 
  3. Methods (including research questions and data sources of data and evidence)
  4. Findings
  5. Implications

Each promising practice proposal must include:

  1. Objectives
  2. Context/organization 
  3. Main audience of your practice
  4. Promising practices/activities 
  5. Implications

Posters will be set up on the first day of the conference. Easels or boards will be provided. Presenters should bring their own tape, pins, paper, or other materials. Poster size should not exceed 4 feet x 4 feet. Students who want to participate in a poster competition should indicate this on the submission form.   

Conference Tracks Descriptions

Civil Rights and Political Participation: Policies and political decisions shape individuals’ civil rights and political participation in changing communities. This track welcomes proposals on topics that touch upon both the impact and the agency of civil rights, for example: (1) the diversity of political engagement across Latine, Hispanic, and newcomer populations, including their work within the growing movements for racial and economic justice in the U.S.; (2) how discrimination or threats to one’s identity impact engagement and/or representation in our democracy and public institutions; or (3) recent legal changes or training programs that shape the political agency or civil rights of immigrants. The goal of this track is to investigate the histories, politics, literatures, and cultures of these moments of discrimination; and/or to raise awareness and share initiatives about legal rights, civil rights, and political engagement that affect individuals’ livelihoods and integration.

Education and Youth Development: Latine, Hispanic, and newcomer youth are resilient, activating their own cultural resources and assets as they grow and learn in both school and out-of-school contexts. This track welcomes proposals on: (1) programs and policies for Latine/Hispanic or newcomer youth in changing communities, including newcomer schools, language and bilingual programs, or specialized community and extension projects; (2) factors and histories that shape/d youth experiences as they grow/grew and learn/ed (P-20), including cultural values, family expectations, transnational movement, or local institutions; or (3) challenges and contributions of various stakeholders involved in youth education and development. The goal of this track is to bring together 4-H, extension specialists, researchers, scholars, and educators to work collaboratively on enhancing educational equity, opportunities, and youth development.

Community and Economic Development: Latines, Hispanics, and newcomers make important impacts across communities and economies through their entrepreneurialism, business development, and risk-taking mindsets. Their work builds bridges, promotes dialogue, and creates opportunities that benefit changing communities. This track welcomes proposals that explore: (1) the cultural and social capital assets that promote and/or have promoted community or economic development for newcomers; (2) the conditions or values that hinder/ed and/or promote newcomers’ involvement and success in community and economic development activities; or (3) current economic trends across regions and/or Latine/Hispanic/newcomer populations. The goal of this track is to investigate what led to particular public policies, approaches, and economic change and growth and/or to inform public policy, enhance service delivery, and support strong economic and community development.

Health: Being healthy is complex and challenging, perhaps especially in changing communities. Health is shaped by differences in transnational movement, economic circumstances, education, behavioral choices, living conditions, and the physical environment. This track encourages submissions that explore the following topics: changing understandings of what constitutes health; community-based health care programs; cultural gaps and bridging in health; consequences of acculturation and health behavior modification; influence of race, ethnicity, or cultural competence on doctor-patient relationships and the willingness (or not) to seek care; traditional or indigenous health practices; health literacy; domestic and sexual violence; mental health; or policies that support or inhibit healthy behaviors. The goal of this track is to show changes in these practices and approaches and to translate research into practice to develop healthier communities.