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Maria Merino and Susana Castillo Gomèz canvass the busy streets of Boyle Heights, raising awareness of meetings on wellness, green space initiatives and climate issues. Merino and Castillo are promotoras — volunteers with Promesa Boyle Heights who work behind the scenes to conduct outreach and advocate for resources offered to community members.
As promotoras, they coordinate workshops and educational sessions for the community and refer participants to receive basic necessities such as food, clothing and rental assistance.
“Being a leader means serving the community and letting people know that there are programs in certain places, events, and resources that, as a community, we sometimes do not know about,” Merino said. “I get very motivated to talk with the community — with people. I love it.”
Promesa Boyle Heights, a collaborative of more than 20 organizations and schools, provides resources to support early learning, school campus improvements and college and career pathways.
The group, which is primarily led by Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission, is partnered with several local schools, including Theodore Roosevelt High School, First Street Elementary School, Hollenbeck Middle School, and Sheridan Street Elementary School. The organizations work together to support students with tutoring and provide academic case management.
Proyecto Pastoral serves as the backbone to five community-building programs, including Promesa Boyle Heights, overseeing its operations, planning and evaluation.
“The promotoras are actually learning and hearing the community’s worries, and then getting the information, getting trained so that they’re able to support the community and whatever is happening at the moment,” said Raquel Román, executive director of Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission.
Castillo, a promotora and working mother of two, has been serving the community through Promesa for three years. “I like to help, that comes from the heart and from my family,” Castillo said. “I help in whatever way I can.”
Castillo added that she supports families in the community by increasing awareness of beneficial resources. She offers outreach on domestic violence workshops and on where to find meals. Through her advocacy work, she said she gained valuable experience that she previously didn’t have.
“We are from a small town where most women have limited opportunities,” Castillo said. “But I like it here because it taught me how to be more independent.”
That independence helped Castillo navigate Promesa’s network, allowing her to connect with partners who shared her desire to help others. This network of organizations and volunteers empowered her to learn about other topics that she would then use to support Boyle Heights residents.
“I like it because you learn a lot when organizations come and offer workshops on domestic violence, mental health, child development, water conservation, etcetera.”
Maria Merino, another promotora, attended a meeting for parents and caretakers to get involved in the organization after learning about Promesa through a daycare center where her grandchildren attended.
“I was interested, so I went and participated,” Merino said. “I liked it so I stayed, and today I have been with Promesa for nine years.”
Merino started as a committee leader and, after four years, became a promotora. While some of the work is unpaid, promotoras occasionally receive a stipend. At Promesa, volunteers can work as committee leaders, who often make decisions, or as promotoras.
Through Merino’s line of work in community outreach, she has seen and acknowledged the disparities in communication between essential resources and community awareness. To close those gaps, Merino took action to create strong relationships in the community and offer resources from Promesa to meet their needs.
“Being a leader taught us to speak more from what people are saying, not just from what we think,” Merino said. “To be a leader, you have to be yourself.”
Promesa enhances the qualities of leaders and promotoras to interconnect their lived experiences with gained skills to build trust within the community. Leaders and promotoras are taught by partnered organizations to effectively promote resources and lead community action initiatives.
The work of leaders and promotoras is highly valued and needed in the community. “There’s a whole group of promotoras that have been part of different organizations,” said Román. “And I think it’s a way for us to support community residents. So they hold a wealth of knowledge of what’s happening in the community.”