Jazmin Cerda was 7 years old when she and her mom moved to the United States from Mexico.
They didn’t yet speak English. Her new school was a series of strange faces and new rituals and unanswered questions. Her mom was working two jobs to cover the basics for their new life and could hardly be expected to explain this new place that was every bit as foreign to her.
“I felt like I didn’t belong,” Cerda said.
They settled in Brighton Park, an immigrant-rich community of about 45,000 people on Chicago’s southwest side. Her mom soon learned about the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, an organization founded in 1997 to build community and advocate for neighborhood improvements and economic justice. One of the organization’s signature initiatives is its parent mentor program, a nationally recognized program that invites parents to volunteer in a classroom at one of six neighborhood schools for two hours each day — fostering relationships between teachers, school leaders and a group or parents and students who are often made to feel, as Cerda did, that they don’t belong.
“They start seeing, ‘I can be involved in this school. I can be part of a parent-principal meeting.’ They start growing interest in becoming leaders in the community.”
Cerda’s mom signed her up for the programs’ after-school portion and became more involved in her education, which impacted both of their lives drastically. That was 2003.
Now Cerda has a 7-year-old daughter at Burroughs Elementary School, one of the Brighton Park schools that participates in the parent mentor program, and Cerda serves as a parent organizer, connecting parents to classrooms and, in the process, weaving them into the fabric of their community and its future.
The only requirement to participate is that you have a child in the school in which you volunteer. But parent mentors aren’t assigned to their own children’s classrooms, which avoids parent-child conflict and allows the parent mentors to meet families and educators outside of their child’s immediate circle.
“Very quickly they see that they do make a difference with the kids, and not just their own,” Cerda said. “They start seeing, ‘I can be involved in this school. I can be part of a parent-principal meeting.’ They start growing interest in becoming leaders in the community.”
Parent mentors attend a weeklong training workshop and receive a small stipend at the end of each school year, after reaching 100 volunteer hours.
“I love telling people I’m a product of Brighton Park Neighborhood Council,” Cerda said.
As Cerda spoke, she was helping her mom connect to Zoom at her dining room table. Her mom is taking English lessons online now that she has a little extra time in her schedule.
“She spent so much time focused on me,” Cerda said. “Anything to allow me to get an education. Now it’s my turn to pay it forward.”