The restaurant where we are, is playing Latin music in the background, we are eating nachos and the waitress speaks in Spanish. We are here in a social that the Unidos organization celebrates every month. Unidos, along with the Hispanic Association, are the groups that have helped us in our task of work with the Latin Community here in South Jersey. Having the possibility of being close to a community that you do not know, is not always that easy. Our case can give some keys on what was important for work with the community.
First, one key step is to identify the associations in which people meet. There you can know a lot of different people in just one place. You still can meet people separately, but it is better when you meet a big number of people, because then you do not depend on just two or three people.
Along with this, when you identify the associations that you want to work with, most of the time you also have to contact the leaders. In our case was Pedro Santana and Bert Lopez, from Unidos and the Hispanic Association. Actually, Pedro was the one that presented us to Bert. And that is part of the magic of interacting with the leaders, that then everything works like a chain. The leaders are not only known to almost every person in the community, but also have authority and people trust in them. In this way, people can be more open to collaborate with your work if they see that their leader trusts in you. That was what happened with us. Pedro introduced us to a general meeting of the Hispanic Association, we were able to present our project and give some brochures. At the end of the meeting different people approached us, giving us their contact to schedule a meeting.
Another second key element is retribution. Once you are in the community and people trust in you, it is important to conserve that feeling. That is why if they invite you to different events or activities, it is good to attend and show that you are interested in them not just because of your work.
The third key, I think, is keep the contact. Many times, you meet someone, you have their number, but you do not call or message that person immediately. Then three or four weeks later, you want to contact the person for a workshop or whatever. It is easier that the person accepts if from the beginning you maintain the contact, for chat for example. In other words, there is a chance that people just forget about you or lose interest if you do not keep them updated about your project.
The fourth and last key is be patient. For us making the contacts was the easier part, but when we started to do the activities was not that easy that people accepted all the time. The last activity that we did was a zine and a story circle workshop, there were two sessions, each one of an hour and a half, so it required a lot of compromise. It is normal and is okay if people decline the invitation, but there are some secrets to mitigate the no answers. First is to strike your workshop or activity, think about what is the thing they can enjoy the most. The second is choose a good schedule and an accessible place, you make a poll for this.
Working with the community gives you the opportunity to learn about a topic, but in a very deep way. It is different to learn about ICE through lectures and books that learn from the stories that Latin people tell you. That stories are unique and working together with the community you have the opportunity to build from that.
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