COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
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While attending Neighborhood Association meetings, I befriended an older<br />
Mexican-American woman who lived in the neighborhood. Sylvia, was about seventy<br />
years old, and lived in Oak Park for many years. She had a son who was a dancer and a<br />
daughter who was a lawyer, both of whom lived in New York City. Sylvia was a retired<br />
teacher who had worked for the CSUS Math, Engineering, and Science, Achievement<br />
(MESA) program in Sacramento for many years. She had an active lifestyle and enjoyed<br />
participating in community events, taking Latin dance lessons, and traveling around the<br />
world. We became friends quickly and Sylvia helped me secure a part-time student<br />
assistant position with the MESA program. At Neighborhood Association meetings we<br />
sometimes sat next to each other and talked about a variety of topics, from work to travel<br />
to neighborhood events.<br />
A few months after we met, Sylvia invited me over to her house to talk about a<br />
project she was working on. I was intrigued and excitedly agreed to meet with her.<br />
Sylvia had long felt that the Neighborhood Association meetings had an<br />
underrepresentation of Latino residents attending meetings. She wondered why such a<br />
large number of Latinos lived in Oak Park but did not attend the meetings. Sylvia felt<br />
there were many reasons why Latinos did not attend Association meetings, the language<br />
barrier being a main reason. Many Latino residents in Oak Park were recent immigrants<br />
or first-generation Latinos who did not speak English, and Neighborhood Association<br />
meetings were conducted in English. Sylvia told me that for a long time she had always<br />
wanted to hold meetings in the neighborhood that were bilingual and benefited the Latino<br />
residents. At Neighborhood Association meetings, she felt decisions in the neighborhood<br />
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