Community Spotlight is on:

LULAC National Educational Service Center, Inc. (LNESC)

LNESC is a not-for-profit educational center located in Chicago in the Little Village/La Villita community.

Mission:

Provide the highest quality of educational opportunities to empower members of the Hispanic/Latino community to maximize their personal and educational potential in order to become lifelong learners.

Organization:

LNESC has two high school advisors and one middle school advisor. Our high school advisors visit the local high schools daily, providing information about the college process to students during their lunch breaks. The students can also call the center to make an appointment if they wish to receive further information in their quest for higher education. The middle school advisor creates and implements pilot after-school programming for the local middle schools. The A.M.I.G.A.S. program, which has been running for 2 years now has flourished.

Youth:

The A.M.I.G.A.S. program- Adolescentes, Mejorando, Integrando, Grandes, Ambiciones y Suenos- is available to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade girls. It is designed to help the girls understand the many changes they will experience or are going through in relation to their bodies, friends, family, school, and boys. The program emphasizes the importance of being a leader and going on to higher education through various activities such as journal writing and group activities. The goal of the program is to help girls feel comfortable with who they are and to help them realize their full potential and the talents each one possesses. A.M.I.G.A.S. strives to create a strong, positive foundation for preparing the girls as they go through the transition of leaving middle school and entering high school.

Our community is predominately low income/Latino and we struggle on a daily basis as our students are faced with many issues, such as gang activity, teen pregnancy, and a high rate of high school dropouts. For these reasons and many more, A.M.I.G.A.S. is an outlet for girls to share their feelings and fears in a safe, welcoming environment.

Initiatives:

The ¡Soy Unica! !Soy Latina¡ free educational materials gave every girl in the program her own workbook. This gift is very important because it gave the girls a sense of ownership and privacy. A.M.I.G.A.S. surprised the girls by giving them bookmarks and posters at the end of various sessions.

¡Soy Unica's! ¡Soy Latina's! free educational materials have allowed A.M.I.G.A.S. to succeed in its mission to help girls in our community. A.M.I.G.A.S. is currently in three middle schools and they all benefit from the ¡Soy Unica! Soy Latina! educational materials.

Contact:

Sylvia Gutierrez
Middle School Advisor
LNESC
4355 W. 26th Street
Chicago, IL 60623
Phone: (773) 277-2513
Fax: (773) 277-3930
E-mail: gutierrezsylvia@hotmail.com

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