Humans of SSYP (Week 2)

Welcome to the second installment of our Humans of SSYP blog posts! Here you will find in-depth interviews with the subjects of HoSSYP. I hope you will gain some insight into the individuals that make up this diverse and growing community. 

Ada

How did you find out about St Stephens’ Youth Program?

“I found out about SSYP through my son's school. I was going through the pickup line in my car. A lady banged on the window and she asked, ‘Hi, would you like to work at the school?’

I said yes. It wasn’t something that I had to beg for.” 

What made you choose to be involved in SSYP? 

“When I found out about St Stephens’ Youth Programs and how it would give me not only an opportunity to work within the schools, but also to be involved within my community. That's how I decided this was something that I have been waiting for for a long time.”

Can you summarize SSYP in one word or phrase? 

“In my case, I would describe SSYP as transformative. It has made a big difference because until recently, it has put my dreams into a way that has materialized my journey. So yeah. I mean, I'm not there yet, but I mean, I'm on my way there.” 

How do you feel about SSYP now compared to when you started?

“I feel more connected with my community now compared to when I started. You feel more engaged and more educated when it comes to the schools, education and how things work in the school districts.”

What has been your biggest challenge at SSYP? 

“There was a time when I was spending too much time here. It was a big weight on my family. I didn't like spending as much time with my family, which I communicated to my then director. My boss said ‘You know what? Yeah, there's a way that you can still participate and be engaged in all of the activities and also spend time with your family.’ That was great. I think that she helped me a great lot to be part of the team, but also be with my family as much as possible.”

What are you most proud of during your time at SSYP?

I'm most proud of the relationships that I have built with the families and parents within the community. I think that they trust me. I think most of them I have known for quite a while since I started the mentor program and parent organizing, because a lot of the parents are also part of the peer mentor program in organizing.

Looking forward, what can we expect from SSYP?

I think that looking forward, we can innovate, update and have a more proactive approach with the current condition and not only with our families, but also our students and us as a whole community. I think we need to take a more holistic approach to what's going on and focus on our motto ‘Nurturing the heart, Nourishing the mind, Building communities where all can thrive.’ I think we need to refocus on what we specifically decided that we're going to work on at the beginning of the year.

What’s your favorite memory at SSYP? 

I have so many good memories from all the students and all of the parents, but I think my favorite memory has to be with one of our current students. She has a lot of needs that haven't been met and addressed. Sometimes, she's not able to focus on her academic tasks and I’m trying to get her to sit down and focus. She wrote that she hated me. I asked, ‘well, is that how you feel about Miss Ada?’ And she was like ‘not you silly’.  I said, well, you know what, Miss Ada is going to close her eyes and you can write something else. Right after that, when I opened my eyes, she wrote, ‘I love you’ and that you're the only nice person that I can talk to. For me, that touched my heart and my soul because it makes me feel and think that I'm doing something amazing. I'm connecting with kids, even though we don't see it in real time because it happens so fast. You think that you're not connecting with them at those upper levels, but that interaction made my day and my year. 

Jackie

What inspired you to join the SSYP community?

What inspired me to join is St Stephens’ Youth Program’s commitment to long-term relationships and community. This is because community and relationships are some of my core values. Additionally, I’m excited to engage with the populations that support their work since they're people of color, especially Latino or Hispanic people like myself.

Can you summarize SSYP in one word or phrase?

I'd use long-lasting connections. 

How do you feel about SSYP now compared to when you started? 

When I first started, it was mostly getting to know the staff and getting prepared and organized for our participants to come. At first, it was a little bit difficult to understand how everything works. Now, I feel very energized and excited to continue to engage with all the members of the SSYP community. I feel like I have a better understanding of how they are able to reach different age levels within the community. I feel committed and excited to do that work with them. 

Have you had to overcome any significant obstacles so far? 

I think the main obstacle has been working with younger kids because I've had the experience of working with peers my own age. An obstacle has been getting used to working with younger populations and understanding how they best receive information and learn. Having the opportunity to work with them these past few weeks, it has benefited me because I'm now gaining more experience on how to work with a larger range of age groups and how to accommodate different ways of learning and receiving information.

What are you most proud of so far during your time at SSYP?

I'm most proud of being able to try my best to instill in the participants that anyone can be a scientist because science is a field where there is very low representation of women and people of color. I'm most proud of being able to present to them examples of different scientists that are people of color and women of color. Even if right now they think science is boring or hard, in the future, just knowing they've seen images of people that look like them, that they can feel empowered to be able to study science and know that they can do it as well.

Do you have any regrets about your time at SSYP?

I wouldn't be when I started not being more engaging and with all the community members, because I'm more on the shy side. I think I could have pushed myself to speak with more people to get to know them better sooner.

What's your favorite memory at SSYP so far?

I don't think there's a specific one, but it's whenever all the staff and team members are together and sharing a meal. One of my friends has this thing that food is fellowship. I really liked the times we're able to eat a meal together for lunch and get to know each other better.

What do you think the future holds for SSYP?

If SSYP can continue to grow and impact the lives of more community members. I think that they're building a solid foundation so that in the future they'll continue to do the important work that they do reaching all of our community members. Hopefully other groups around the nation can model what SSYP does so we can build these long-term relationships with other places in our country.

Is there anything else you want to talk about or say about SSYP in your experience?

I love that SSYP gives a voice to the voiceless in the community of South End Boston. 

Rafa

How did you first hear about SSYP?  

When Ariel and I heard about this parent mentor program in Chicago, we decided to travel to Chicago and bring that program here to Boston. I really fell in love with the program. Even though I was already part of the parent organizer program, I was also a parent mentor that was working in the classroom at the Blackstone school. This was really good because I was getting the parents involved with the schools.

I really loved the Blackstone school and being involved in that and getting to be a volunteer and now getting paid for it. I was really in love with that. Because of that moment, I have just one job. When the Blackstone approved the program, they had approved a pilot plan, which was six parents to be in the schools. I was one of the six mothers who started the Blackstone program. I was working Monday-Thursday at the school for two hours a day like every mother in the program. I worked an additional two hours a week in training and capacity building on Fridays. 

What was the network that got you started on your journey of bringing the parent-mentor program to Boston? 

Ariel went through Chicago, so that’s how she first found out about the program. She came to Boston and talked about the program here. I travelled with Ariel to find out more about the parent-mentor program. The biggest connection over there was a woman named Bridget. There was also an association of the Logan neighbors. There was additionally an organization that we had connected with to learn more about the program. 

Can you summarize the parent mentor program in one word or phrase?

Transformative. 

How do you feel about the parent-mentor program now compared to when you started? 

The best thing about the parent-mentor program is that they taught me how to be a leader in my house, be a leader in my school and a leader in my community. 

I think that the parent-mentor program is the power of the woman and the power of the family. The parent mentor program provides relationships with the school because the teacher and the principal have a very good relationship with the students and parents. 

It’s very important to me to be recognized for my leadership. The Blackstone created an award for me in honor of the work I’ve done for the parent-mentor program. When the award is given out every year, it is going to be dedicated to a parent, but it will have my name on it. It’s called theRafaela Polancoaward. The award is going to be given out at every graduation to the parent who was the most involved in what’s happening at the schools. 

What are you most proud of during your time at the parent mentor program?

One thing that made me really proud is when we won the decision to not cut the budget at the Blackstone School. Another thing I was proud of was being able to have more say and being part of more decisions made at the school that didn't happen before.

What's some memories you have of your time in the parent mentor program?

“My favorite memory is every time we have a graduation ceremony is when we listen to the parent-mentors’ stories and see how big the changes are that have been transforming their lives. 

One of the memories that really stuck in my mind is one time a Boston police officer stopped me on the highway between Gloucester to Boston. He treated me with discrimination. He threw the ticket to me, like gave it to me for minor traffic violations. The paper that was printing, he grabbed it and threw it in my face and said that Latin people don’t know how to drive. When he threw the paper at me, my son was in the backseat and he was shaking because he was scared. When I stopped to look at the ticket, it was about $415.

When I saw the ticket, I just started crying. I said to myself ‘what am I going to do if I don't know any English to go to court?’ One of the things that I started thinking about and remembering is all my training and how parent-mentors become leaders. I was receiving parent mentors that made me understand that you cannot give up and you can do it.

I came to St Stephen’s and they told me what I can do. They said to go to a motor vehicle office, and tell them that I'm wanting to appeal the ticket and then they will let me know what the next step is. 

The funny thing was the same day that I was going to appeal the ticket was also the day of the parent mentor graduation two years ago. I went in the morning to do the appeal and the graduation was later that afternoon. I went to the appeal and I was the last one to be seen because the interpreter never arrived. I ended up speaking my Spanglish, and the judge understood what I was saying. So they took all the tickets away. I won the appeal. A story like mine; there are a lot of stories like that in this program.” 

A lot of people have that fear of not speaking up because of the language barrier. One of the things I really like about the parent-mentor program is that blindfold, they take it away and they give you another vision to see the things that you can do.

There are no barriers, anything can happen, everything can happen and you can do it if you work hard for it.