La Semilla: A Safe Haven for Young People in Little Village
To build successful young people, knowledge is not enough. It is essential to mold their character and teach them to enjoy the road to success. Many children and families in Little Village are constantly facing adverse situations, such as lack of communication between parents and children, violence in the family, insecurity in the streets, poor living conditions, and other difficulties that affect families in this community.
To help address these needs, we founded La Semilla program in 2001. This program was aimed at students from first to eighth grade to support them with homework, food, and counseling.
Our current director of La Semilla, Jazmin Valdez, is a former participant
of the program and understands what participants go through. This year they are focusing on the emotional well-being of the children. “We are promoting activities that show us how the children feel, we are talking to them, we want to support them so that they develop in healthy environments in the community and above all that they enjoy their childhood,” Jazmin told us.
“This is my dream job and contributing to the program means a lot to me. My childhood experiences and having been part of this program, allows me to understand the needs of a child,” said Jazmin.
The La Semilla program also encourages participants to promote and inspire change in their community in the short-term. “We are having reflection exercises with them, how they imagine their community and how they learn positive skills they can put into practice to change their neighborhood,” said Daniela Guerrero, instructor at La Semilla program in Little Village.
Guerrero says they are working with children in various sports activities so they can develop discipline, new sports skills and learn about building positive relationships. They are also working on strengthening skills in reading, writing and others, with which the children face greater difficulties.
Yahaira, a 9-year-old participant, tells us one of the things she enjoys the most is making crafts and playing ball toss with her friends. “I like that the teacher has us make pieces with plasticine because I can make pizzas and turtles,” said Yahaira.
One of the strengths of this program is that we assign a limited number of students to each instructor to lead each of the activities. Instructors divide their time with each group to provide the best attention and education to students.
For this year, the La Semilla program plans to increase services to up to 45 students and three instructors. A wide variety of extracurricular activities will also be included: art, literature, biblical studies, technology management, character development, and leadership sessions.
The program will continue to focus its efforts in achieving a higher educational performance, through homework help, lectures and personalized mentoring sessions.
Father Greg Boyle Visits New Life Centers
We were honored to have hosted Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, this week. This organization is based in Los Angeles and is the world's largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and reintegration program for youth in gangs. Father Greg shared many stories of resilience, gave advice, and broke bread with our staff and other partners.
Father Greg's work has had a positive impact on thousands of young people and demonstrates that love and compassion contribute to a better world. “Since God thought of the creation of the world, he always had in mind the love of neighbor and good harmony among human beings, and that is what we are betting on with our work,” said Father Greg.
Father Greg emphasized that among his priorities is to prioritize the healing of individuals to then turn them into beings who love peace.
We were able to learn even more during a Q&A panel discussion. Matt DeMatteo, CEO of New Life Centers facilitated a panel featuring incredible leaders: Dominique McCord from Metropolitan Peace Initiatives, Benny Estrada from New Life Centers, Jalon Arthur from Chicago CRED, Esther Franco-Payne from the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, and Father Greg Boyle from Homeboy Industries. Together, they shared valuable lessons and strategies to make our communities safer and more peaceful.
The focus of this panel was Community Violence Intervention (CVI), exploring the challenges and opportunities we face in achieving a peace-loving and harmonious city. Each panelist had the opportunity to share life lessons and key strategies to make our communities safer and more peaceful.
Saving lives is a demanding but necessary task. Everyone can help make a difference. Marginalized people can also perform extraordinary acts of kindness and compassion.
