Marcela Rodriguez-Campo leads free monthly writing and cultural workshops at the Dolores Resource Center in North Las Vegas, offering Spanglish sessions that mix literacy, healing, and support for local families.
Marcela Rodriguez-Campo turned a job loss into a new start for Las Vegas families looking for connection and healing. After losing her last job, she started Co-Libre Education, a grassroots project now running free writing and cultural workshops in North Las Vegas. As reported by 8 News Now, Co-Libre Education began about a year before their latest coverage. Rodriguez-Campo says the project is tied to her roots as a Latina feminist educator and a first-generation college graduate who came to the U.S. from Colombia at age five.
The workshops take place every month at the Dolores Resource Center. Rodriguez-Campo invites parents, kids, high schoolers, and college students into a space where Spanglish is not just welcome—it’s part of the experience. The sessions focus on reading, cultural identity, and emotional healing. Participants write about what weighs on them, then tear up their words and drop them into a basket of herbs. This act nods to the “limpia” cleansing rituals from her heritage. The workshops are free, open to all ages, and taught in both English and Spanish. This reflects the community’s mix of languages, as noted in the original 8 News Now report.
How Co-Libre Education works
Rodriguez-Campo’s approach is nothing like a standard classroom. She leads people through exercises that mix storytelling, language, and tradition. Spanglish is used so everyone feels at home. Writing, destroying, and composting personal stories is more than an activity—it’s a ritual. The pain goes back to the earth. As Rodriguez-Campo puts it, everything returns to the land in the end, even us.
Scholarship support is part of the mission too. According to 8 News Now, Co-Libre Education has raised at least $2,000 to help students who need it most. There are plans to bring these workshops to more schools and groups across the Las Vegas Valley. However, no independent confirmation of the scholarship total or other claims has been found outside this local TV report.
Community response and cultural context
Rodriguez-Campo’s work comes as many Latino families in the area feel pushed out of schools and pressured by national politics. Her workshops create a space where dignity and respect are not up for debate. The focus on culture and healing has brought families from all over North Las Vegas. This matches a growing demand for community-led, inclusive events. Other local efforts show the same trend, like the free Mexico Independence Day celebration at Centennial Hills Park, which also focused on culture and access. The city of North Las Vegas runs a Hispanic Heritage Month events page, showing wider support for Latino cultural programs, as seen on the official city events calendar.
What’s next for Las Vegas literacy initiatives
Rodriguez-Campo wants to grow Co-Libre Education’s reach. With scholarship money in place and a working model for community engagement, she is looking for new partners in schools and organizations across the Las Vegas Valley. The workshops’ mix of language, tradition, and healing makes them a unique resource for families dealing with questions of identity and belonging in Southern Nevada.
Her vision is simple: everyone deserves a place where their story counts and they feel seen. In a city known for change, these workshops offer something steady—realness, cultural pride, and the act of writing together. For Las Vegas, it’s a sign that community-led education is taking root, meeting people where they are instead of forcing them to fit in.
