Parents work together at the
Telpochcalli Community Education Project (TCEP) in the Little Village community on the city’s
west side – organizing events, planning programs and working with youth and
adults. Later that day,
students from DePaul join them and engage in a wide range of service learning
activities. This is the scene during any given term at DePaul.
Maria Velazquez, executive director of TCEP, shares TCEP's
approach which focuses on mobilizing youth and adults for social
justice work while running more than a dozen programs out of its home inside Telpochcalli Elementary School and
Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy. “In our program, members of the community are
decisionmakers, Parents drive the
organization – and young leaders drive the youth programs.” “Everything,” she says, “is about relationships.”
In recent years, DePaul students have
been involved in TCEP as interns, Community
Service Scholars and through course-based service-learning
activities. Along the way, students learn about the Little
Village community. Little Village is a
predominately low-income immigrant community where unemployment, struggle to access
basic services like health care, and gang violence impact residents.
What students see, however, is a different
story: the story of a tight-knit community that is rich in people who are
engaged in working together and focused on improving lives and seeking
opportunities for children.
For DePaul graduate Lisbeth Sanchez, service learning at TCEP not only
helped her learn about the community – it helped her build confidence. Sanchez majored in Latin American and Latino Studies and
minored in women and gender studies. At TCEP, she interned through a
Community Partnership Internship (CPI) where one of her activities involved running
Girls Talk, a program for young girls. “I wasn’t too sure I could lead a
program like that by myself. No one had ever asked me to do that, but Maria
knew it was something I could do and it turned out really great. Some of these
young girls that I mentored I still talk to. At TCEP, I found out that I had strengths
from working with people in the community who helped me see that.”
Edwin Rabadan, who majored in sociology and minored in Latin
American and Latino Studies at DePaul, also interned at TCEP as a DePaul student. Rabadan helped out TCEP in a range of ways. He was also
able to use some of his technical skills – like setting up cameras, projectors
and speakers for events.
Rabadan says the organization “taught him about community.
It was just the way they interacted – the positive environment they created
that welcomed people.” TCEP hired Rabadan to be a youth organizer. “It was my
first job out of school,” he says. “When I started and they told me I was youth
organizer, I didn’t know what that was. I learned at TCEP that my job was to be
the support that youth need.” Rabadan responded by working with youth through a myriad
of programs, including organizing soccer games, dance class, mentoring
opportunities and many other programs.
Rabadan explained, “When you come to TCEP,
you can see university students working with high school students – and high
school students working with younger kids. And, of course, parents supporting
all of what we do.”
Yesenia Lopez, vice-chair of TCEP’s Board of Directors,
was also a Community Partners Intern at the organization while she was at
DePaul, where she majored in political science and minored in women and gender
studies. At first, she worked in TCEP’s office;
later, she worked on a fundraiser and led a citizenship class in
Spanish. She also launched a group for young Latinas in the area. “I worked
with young women between the ages of 14 and 17 to navigate certain stereotypes
and get them support to pursue education. I also took them on a tour of DePaul
that was a very eye-opening experience for them.”
Lopez adds that “Maria [Velazquez] knew about my background
in women and gender studies, and she encouraged me. The program is still going
strong. At TCEP, DePaul students can get hands-on experience that will have a
huge impact on the community.”
These days, Lopez is Operations Coordinator for SGA Youth
and Family Services, a partner and supporter of TCEP. As a TCEP board member,
her role includes doing workshops for parents and reviewing youth scholarship
applications.
For DePaul graduate Reagan Lee, an accounting major who
grew up in South Korea, a service opportunity at TCEP gave him the chance to
apply his budgeting and accounting skills in a real-world setting – at first.
Later, he helped write grants and mentored students, and his activities
included helping students complete college applications and apply for
scholarships.
Lee says that for students in the Scholars program, “going
to TCEP opened our eyes to how inequality and discrimination affect
communities. That’s a lot more valuable than just learning about those things
in books.”
When I came to TCEP, I wanted to learn more about the community. What
I found is a place where the community comes together.
He was also encouraged by how people engaged with each other
through TCEP. “One big takeaway,” he says, is that when people are on hard
times, they need each other – and that’s where an organization like TCEP is
helping. When I came to TCEP, I wanted to learn more about the community. What
I found is a place where the community comes together.”
Dr. Ester Trujillo, assistant professor of
Latin American andLatino Studies at DePaul, teaches “Growing Up
Latino/Latina in the U.S.” The course included
elements of sociology, education, anthropology and other disciplines. Students are assigned to service learning placements at various
nonprofits, including TCEP. Trujillo says that service learning experiences not
only teaches students about communities and their issues – but about how the needs
of communities change. “Anyone placed at an organization needs to be aware of
the community’s specific needs at any given time,” she says. “Right now,
college access is very important for many young people. But there’s also a very
large anti-immigrant sentiment and policies that are shifting under our feet.”
Being a student
and then going into a community and putting what I’ve learned into practice
helps me better understand the material
Betsy Lugo took Trujillo’s course and was
placed at TCEP. It was her first service learning experience. Lugo, who is
majoring in media and cinema studies and minoring in Latin American and Latino
Studies, tutored and mentored high school students at TCEP. “Being a student
and then going into a community and putting what I’ve learned into practice
helps me better understand the material,” she says. “It also made me more
cognizant of people in the community.”
Lugo recalls a moment when she had an experience at TCEP
that took her in a different direction than she had anticipated. “Even though
we helped mostly with math, proofing essays or helping students apply to
colleges, one of my favorite moments was when I helped a student with a
monologue for an audition. I have a background in acting, and I was able to
give her a little advice. We both had such a good time. At TCEP, there are so
many opportunities to help students in different ways.”
Like many students, Alejandra Delgadillo says she will
continue working with TCEP well after her initial assignment at the
organization. Delgadillo, who majors in Latin American and Latino studies with
a minor in Spanish translation, also took the “Growing Up Latino” course. At
TCEP, she worked with college freshmen. “Aside from offering help with their
homework, our interactions were opportunities for them to ask questions and for
me to share stories about being in college, picking classes and in general
offering insight on what my experiences have been.”
Delgadillo offered a broad view on how she benefited from
the program. “I like being able to put my knowledge to use in helping others,”
she says. “Knowing that sharing my experiences can be of help to someone else
is very rewarding. I also like the environment that the students have created
for themselves; they all know each other and get along well. Some of the older
students will become mentors themselves to younger ones, which I think reflects
the importance they place on having resources and a support system available to
them through TCEP.”
For Maria Velazquez, DePaul students fit in well with an
organization so focused on collaboration, faith in the power of community and
an up-close understanding of the needs of the people who live there. “We have
had beautiful and very meaningful experiences with DePaul students,” says
Velazquez. “For us, these students help
in many ways. For the students, they find themselves through their experiences
here. They begin to think about their purpose and what they want to do with
their lives.”
Telpochcalli
Community Education Project (TCEP) mobilizes youth and adults for
social justice work by building individual capacity, collective power,
and mutual responsibility through culturally relevant and
community-directed education, leadership development, and organizing