Marcelo didn’t find Unidos on his own. His older sister did. She joined our youth program as a teen and kept coming back, and before long she was bringing her quiet younger brother with her. When Marcelo joined our elementary programs, he wasn’t just walking into a new room. He was walking into a space where people already knew his last name, knew his sister, and were ready for him.

Yeralda lives right around the corner from Casa Unidos. From the day we moved in, she was at our door with her backpack, curious about whatever we were hosting that day. She first joined us as an elementary student at homework club. In a neighborhood where there aren’t many structured places for youth to land after school, homework club gave her a table, a caring adult, and a rhythm to her week. When she became a middle schooler, that same space gave her something more: a way to help. She joined our volunteer team, started supporting younger kids, and has become the kind of neighbor everyone hopes for.

Orlando grew up in this neighborhood and has always carried big questions about what a flourishing life could look like for him. Over the years at Unidos he has tutored younger students, helped lead programs, and continued to imagine how his gifts could shape this place. 

This month, he is joining our Unidos team to help with data and systems, learning how to track the very programs he once attended. Through a career class at Unidos, he was connected with a data management company that began teaching him the ropes of tracking information, systems, and impact. A whole field he might never have heard much about suddenly became real and possible. For him, this feels like laying a foundation that began in this neighborhood and will support many others after him.