Mano a Mano Supports Youth who have Incarcerated Family Members
Latinos Unidos Siempre rallying for International Workers Day at the Oregon State Capitol.
In an ideal world, young people’s biggest stressors would be bio exams and who to ask to prom, but for so many, including young Oregon students, that is far from the reality.
Many young people in Oregon are directly impacted by incarceration. Having a parent or sibling incarcerated means constant worry about the health and safety of that loved one. Not to mention, youth with family in jail or prison are four times more likely to end up in the juvenile justice system.
Mano a Mano Family Center, serving Marion and Polk counties, plus surrounding communities, supports youth directly impacted by the carceral system. Established in 1988, they are the oldest Latino and immigrant-led community-based organization in the Salem-Keizer region. Since then, Mano a Mano has housed many different community-led projects that have had a profound impact in the community, including through youth-led project Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS) established in 1996.
LUS was established in response to ongoing racial discrimination in schools, by police, mass incarceration, deportation and other forms of systemic oppression faced by immigrant, brown, Indigenous and Black youth and their families. LUS has served as an important catalyst for social change in the community by helping young people access leadership development, community advocacy, peer-mentorship and direct support.
Mano a Mano serves 3,000+ families annually. Their leadership and staff come from the community they serve and have personal experience with poverty, discrimination, immigration and more, which help them understand the people they serve. All of Mano a Mano’s team, from volunteers to staff, identify as Latinx, immigrant, from families with low income, and some identify as Indigenous from Mexico or Central America and as LGBTQ2+. At every level of their work, that lived experience is front and center, and nowhere is it more noticeable than in the youth programs, which are staffed and led by older youth and young adults.
With funds from the JREP, the LUS program will have additional capacity to bring in Promotores to serve youth.
Promotores are a mix of mentors, coaches, case workers and cheerleaders. Promotores help youth access supports they may need, individually or in group-based settings, such as:
Healing: Helping youth and family access medical coverage, care, behavioral and/or counseling services. This includes healing circles, connection to culturally proficient counseling support, group-based therapy that integrates sweat lodges, connection to nature and therapy that integrates plants, animals and peer support.
Employment Strategies: On a limited basis, youth may be given opportunity to earn paid (or unpaid) work experience organizing service learning projects, or become part of the team producing a weekly FM radio show broadcast on KTUP 98.3 FM Radio Poder.
Mentoring: Promotores mentor youth one-on-one by role modeling behavior, helping youth build positive connections to older youth and young adults, supporting youth in being agents of their own success, and helping youth celebrate success, big or small. Youth also engage in group-based settings with peers in prosocial settings, and in healing circles that focus on any of the specific needs youth are presenting.
Basic Needs Stabilization: Promotores help remove barriers to success and help youth navigate local systems, such as health care, education and juvenile justice. These needs often present as urgent needs, such as food insecurity, housing insecurity, health navigation, mental/behavioral crisis, emergency financial assistance, tools/clothing related to employment, tutoring, life skills development, etc.
Street Outreach and Violence Interrupters: Organizing community events such as the annual Urban Art Fest, trying to change the narrative about how the community sees youth culture ("urban culture"), and engaging with youth who may have been exposed to violence and/or gang culture.
Reentry, Diversion, and Reducing Involvement in the Criminal Legal System: Promotores will support, via case management, youth or young adults who are returning from incarceration and/or currently under supervision, such as probation or parole, or by preventing engagement with the criminal justice system.
Additional Services: The youth and their family may also receive wraparound support through other Mano a Mano programs, and a Salem-based drop-in center, to deal with urgent needs, address the needs of participants and family, engage in prosocial after and out-of-school prosocial activities, volunteer opportunities, service learning projects, parent-child interaction opportunities, parenting education, leadership training, college visits, career exploration, community forums, etc., to help prevent violence, harm to the youth/family, and to help (re)connect youth/family to self, family and community.
Most participants in the JREP program are working alongside LCCL to build their internal capacity. Sandra Hernández-Lomelí Director of Latinos Unidos Siempre, explains that prior to this she hasn’t had nonprofit financial training and is looking forward to the learning opportunities.
Sandra also highlighted the value of meeting and learning from other JREP grantees. “These groups are like us and working at the grassroots level. Connecting with peers across the state allows us to identify and the intersecting issues impacting our communities. We also discuss best practices across populations: adults vs. youth vs. families.”
Sandra shared that much like Mano a Mano “JREP money is focused on prevention. That is so powerful with long-lasting impact. This program is on the right path.”
The Justice Reinvestment Equity Program (JREP) supports culturally specific organizations and culturally responsive services in communities most harmed and least helped by Oregon’s criminal legal system. JREP seeks to elevate organizations that have been overlooked by traditional funding streams with the goals of reducing incarceration and racial disparities in the criminal legal system, promoting healing and advancing community safety in Oregon. Learn more about JREP.