For the second consecutive summer, the “Club de Reporteros” – an initiative of Enlace Chicago and Yollocalli Arts Reach – met for five weeks during July and August to explore issues that are relevant to our community.
These community members, who are now trained as community reporters, took on the task of diving deep into the everyday realities of neighbors. Their goal? To encourage collaboration within their community and learn about the resources that are available, not just to help themselves, but to support their neighbors with whatever they might be going through. They also wanted to change the narrative about Little Village, especially that which the mainstream media depicts. They wrote about topics such as communication during old age, global warming and street vendors, corner stores, and healthy living. You can find some their articles here:
Yollocalli Arts Reach served as home base for the Club de Reporteros, where they learned the craft and wrote and edited their articles. Yollocalli runs a youth journalism program year round; these youth used their experience to support the new reporters, accompanying them to interviews and providing one-on-one help with technology. The program also provided a space for participants from last summer to continue writing and learning. Margarita Marquez was one of those continuing participants. “I felt happy to have the opportunity to write,” she said. “This year I felt more confident with the teacher and received a lot of support. My goal for writing was to address the physical and mental health needs in our community. I took on the challenge of interviewing two excellent therapists.”
This program was made possible thanks to the generous financial support of PenAmerica. The Little Village Community Portal, an online space for sharing resources and stories that are relevant to the community, serves as a platform for publishing the work that was done over the summer. Please visit littlevillagecommunityportal.org to read and share the articles that were created by the Club de Reporteros!