It gives us great pleasure to announce Fanny Diego-Alvarez as the new associate director at Enlace Chicago! Fanny has been with us for over ten years, and brings a wealth of experience in program design, management, and evaluation.
Fanny was born in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexico. When she was six years old, her family immigrated to the United States and arrived in Little Village. Fanny was first introduced to Enlace when she was a sophomore at Farragut Career Academy. She later earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a graduate degree from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. This year, she is a fellow with the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.
Fanny started working at Enlace in 2005. Most recently, Fanny served as our Education Director, overseeing a wide spectrum of education initiatives at nine neighborhood schools that serve more than 5,000 families each year. In this role, she supervised a team of more than 95 staff and instructors. Fanny played a key role in piloting and growing Enlace's work in college readiness and postsecondary, and has worked as a tireless advocate for undocumented youth. In October 2012, she was awarded the Community Schools Leadership Award from the Illinois Federation of Community Schools. Fanny enjoys being able to work in her own community and considers it a great responsibility and privilege.
Fanny's talents and passion for Little Village, the neighborhood she calls home, are assets our organization deeply values, and we are extremely excited to work with Fanny in this new capacity.