Space for Creativity: An Interview with Juan Salgado

Juan Salgado is the president and CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, a Chicago nonprofit organization which contributes to the development of Latino immigrants through education, training, and employment programs that engage the whole family and are accessible to people of all skill levels. Since 2001, Salgado has led Instituto through a period of national award-winning recognition and historic organizational growth, establishing national best-practice educational and workforce models. In 2011 the White House recognized him as one of thirteen Champions of Change who were honored for social innovation in their communities. He was selected to join the MacArthur Fellows class of 2015 for his strong community leadership and innovative approach to education in the Latino immigrant community.

On May 26, 2016, Salgado spoke on a panel for this year’s Chicago Interfaith Gathering titled “2016 Presidential Election: The Effects of Political Rhetoric on Minority Communities,” which was hosted by the Niagara Foundation and the International House Global Voices Lecture Series. Gate writer and Global Voices Metcalf intern Maya Ruíz sat down with him before the event to learn more about his work.

The Gate: Can you tell me about your work at Instituto del Progreso Latino? I'd really like to know what it took to build that amazing team.

Juan Salgado: I love that fact that you asked about creating the team, because when you're doing human development, when you're working with people, when you want to see those people be everything they can be, it really is about the people that are helping them. It's about the human beings around them, it's about the teachers, it's about the approach. And I think in many ways, our team is full of folks who have been through the experience. Dr. Ricardo Estrada, for instance, is Colombian but came to the United States. He had to learn the English language, but dreamed of getting his Ph.D. He had to go through the system of education here, and in the process of being a part of it as an adult, he started to gain an interest in how he could help others. It's people like him, who have gone through this, who form the base of our organization, who are, quite frankly, frustrated with the existing systems of education that aren’t working. So one, they've been through it themselves.

Two, they've been at other institutions that either don't believe in our students—don't know how to approach our students and really draw the best out of them—or don't create the space for creativity. I'm not an educator. I'm an urban planner. But I run an education institution, and the way I'm able to do that is just by creating an environment. You create an environment with that kind of talent, [people] who can actually dream and achieve their dreams and do creative things. So the creative part of the organization actually isn't me. I'm the leadership part of the organization, so I just create the space for people to be creative. And there's a lot of those kinds of people in the world. They just end up in places that don't believe in them, that don't necessarily believe in our students, so we create that environment where they can really flourish—both our staff and our students.

Gate: That's very exciting work. Like you said, a lot of these people come to Instituto and the people who work there are coming from experiences where they weren't supported in the educational systems that exist. Do you think that your model can be transferred over to public schools or to universities? Do you think that it's possible for this to be accessible to everyone, not just through nonprofits?

Salgado: Yeah, that's a great question. There are things that we're doing technically that are a little different than what the system was doing before and it's getting much better results than what a community college is getting. We're doing some things technically different in our high schools too. That part of it I think is completely transferable—how we push the curriculum, the cohorts, the supports for families. So there are some things that I think, if you do them, they can be replicated.

The one thing that really requires culture change is how you view the human being. If I see a fourth-grade reader with broken English, and I can't really see the bachelor's degree nurse in them that's not too far away on the horizon, then all the technical stuff in the world isn't going to get them there. And so the cultures at these institutions have to be such. And I'm not talking about teachers; the culture is driven by the leadership and the approach of the institution. And so the answer is yes, [replication] can happen, but it requires leadership that's enlightened and leadership that's driving down a belief in human beings. If you've got a kid who's acting out, who is screaming for help—what I mean by screaming for help is that they're saying and doing all these things that are counterproductive and yet they're screaming for help—if you can figure out how to help them, they're college material. But if you can't see the college material—if you just see the hoodie, you know, the raw anger and frustration and despair—then that's all you can see, and it doesn't matter what technical stuff you have. You won't get that student to really flourish. That's not a straight answer, but it's my answer.

Gate: This conference is about the effects of political rhetoric on minority communities. How do you see your work as changing the way we see each other in the larger Chicago community, or even on a national level?

Salgado: So there are a lot of things we can do to build a more cohesive community. It means our leadership, where we spend our time. During the day, I have to run an organization that delivers results. But on my free time there are things that I can do. There are lots of things that I can do. For ten years, I was the president of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, [which is made up of] 130 different organizations—I stopped in 2011, because after ten years, that's enough! Somebody else needs to do it. But an organization of 130 different ethnic communities, bringing together the Latino community, the Chinese community, the Polish community, the Muslim community, the African immigrant community, and just getting to that point where we not only know each other, but can support each other. Shortly after 9/11, we created a campaign that brought Latinos and Muslims together so that Latinos could really understand and not fall prey to the rhetoric that was going on with regards to Muslims. When you do things like that, you start to change mindsets. It becomes not so easy for our community to get caught up in the wrong narrative, but it also creates strength so that we can push for the right narrative. We need both: we need our community wise enough to not fall prey, but we need our community strong enough to propel through the wrong narrative that pops up in our country every once in awhile. It just doesn't seem to go away!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. This interview was made possible by the Gate’s partnership with the Global Voices Interview Series and can also be found on the Global Voices website.

The image featured in this article is licensed under Creative Commons. The original image can be found here.