the Youth Team

Please welcome Ashley Galvan Ramos to the Youth Team!

"LSNA really helped shaped who I am today. When I first stepped into LSNA I knew I was never leaving. I found a family, a support group, a home. A home that educated youth on believing they were strong enough together to change our communities. I didn't know I was strong enough. I didn't know that one day I would be capable of being on the board of directors as the youth representative for this organization. LSNA really helped my family and me when we were displaced from Logan Square to purchasing a home, to being employed at an aldermanic office. Thank you LSNA for believing, uplifting, and caring for me."

Violet Gallardo is back and she's running for LSNA's Youth Team! Here's why she is running:

In 2009, I got my first job ever with the Logan Square Neighborhood Association when I was sixteen years. old! As a Youth Leader in LSNA’s After School Matters program, I was introduced to social justice and grassroots organizing. From 2016-18, I returned from college and started graduate school, I rejoined the LSNA youth team and development office. As a Human Resources Coordinator (AKA HR diosa) for the One Summer Chicago program, I helped hire 50-75 local youth each summer to connect them with local small businesses and community organizations.

This is my fourth year fundraising for LSNA! I am thankful for the professional and emotional growth I’ve experienced through the mentorship and relationships I have cultivated with the entire LSNA staff over the last decade. I left LSNA to pursue Social Work and am happily working as High School Counselor providing clinical group and individual counseling for young women.This organization still continues to make me feel loved and supported since I joined their family and has been my constant support system through times I wanted to drop out of school, my internships or was feeling hopeless in transitional life situations.

Please help support my fundraising goal and donate $5-$10 if you can to help continue to support LSNA Youth Team!

Meet Jennifer Valezquez, Program Coordinator for Estudiantes Sin Fronteras:

I am running the 2019 Bloomingdale Trail Run to raise money for LSNA’s youth team. My work at LSNA focuses on educating youth on the issue of immigration and providing resources for the community. What I love most about LSNA is the amazing work my colleagues do every day to inspire and empower people in the community. I have been able to begin great projects at Schurz High School with the club, Estudiantes Sin Fronteras-- which was recently named a finalist for the Obama Foundation’s Youth Impact Award-- that have kept growing, and I strive to continue building and shaping a welcoming environment for all.