by Kelsey Leach
serving at South Bay Community Services, California
Chula Vista
Promise Neighborhoods/South Bay Community Services is a pleasure to
work with. I have not spent much time with community members because I have
been busy finding out were my place is within the school, doing behind the
scenes tasks and trying to create new programs to help students. However, I did participate in South Bay
Community Services Homeless Count. This
allowed me to get to know Teresa, a Promotora, a little better.
Promotoras
were started in Latin America in 1950’s, according to Implementing a Promotoras
Comunitarias Model by Sylvia Esqueda. Promotoras were created to help people
navigate the healthcare system. The Promotoras of Chula Vista Promise
Neighborhood help educate parents in numerous ways so they can fully support
and provide for their children. They build a sense of comfort to a community
that comes together like family. They help bridge a gap between the white
dominant cultural practices and the Latino community. Her work as a Promotora helps parents become
more involved in their children’s education. This makes a big difference in
children’s academics by providing them with parental support which they need to
help them thrive. Teresa helps build a
bridge that allows the predominantly Latino neighborhood to understand the
importance of education. She works within a schools system structured around
the cultural norms of a white middle class society to break down barriers that
often leave behind minorities such as Latinos.
We started
off on a journey that would further help me understand my role as a new
community member in Chula Vista working with South Bay Community services to
help children succeed. It was very early in the morning but it was time to go
count the homeless in the south Bay Region. I was fortunate enough to be paired
with Teresa and another Promotora to count the homeless in one of the
neighborhoods of Chula Vista.
It was great
to be shown a different part of Chula Vista than I am use to while driving
around looking for sleeping homeless people. She told me about the different
parts of Chula Vista as we continued driving around looking for homeless. Her
knowledge of the area was great because it helped improve my awareness of Chula
Vista. Teresa pointed out good
restaurants as we drove and happily shared about the streets that she had lived
on. We even had a brief discussion about Mexican breakfasts. It was so helpful to get to know the area in
which the students, I am helping, live in. I also learned about Teresa’s
background and personal story of her upbringing which seemed to be similar to
many students in the area and the same cultural background my mom had come
from.
Although racism may not seem as
prevalent when you are minority today, it still exists in our lives. Many
families within this community are bilingual or speak Spanish within their home
often making it challenging for children entering schools were English is the
standard. She made me think about many
of the obstacles that Castle Park students face on a regular basis because of
cultural differences.
My identity is something I have always
struggled with considering I am of a mixed background. I am half Latina and
half white, but look white. I identify
myself as Latina, but no one else knows that unless I share my background. On
my mom’s side of the family my grandmother is from El Salvador and my
grandfather was from Mexico City. My grandfather was never an American Citizen.
In the 1950’s my mother grew up in a household with parents who did everything
to raise their children as middle class white people. Spanish is both my
grandparents’ native language, but was only spoken by my grandparents when they
didn’t want their children to know what they were saying. Prejudices ran very
high in the 1950’s and it was easier to not stand out as Latino, from the brief
conversations I have had about it with my mom and grandmother. I really enjoyed hearing Teresa’s story of
her family and how they embraced their cultural background. She had cousins
that took place in protesting for Hispanic equality in LA during the 1960’s.
All of this made me understand my own family a little better and all the
hardships the people of this area have suffered. It helped me better understand
what the children within Castle Park Elementary face today.
I am very
thankful to have had the opportunity to get know Teresa a little better. She
has helped me understand the cultural background of the people I am serving and
the area in which I am living in. I hope to work with her in the future.
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