by Diana Pando
Adelina Salgado, a lifelong Pilsen resident, remembers arriving to the neighborhood for the first time on a Sunday afternoon. Her husband had migrated from Guerrero, Mexico to Chicago and had finally saved up enough money to send for her.
The Salgados ended up living in a small apartment near 20^th and Damen. Their apartment got even smaller when they began to raise a family. To make ends meet and support her family, Adelina began working in a factory making curtains and rug sample books.
At the time, Pilsen’s dilapidated housing stock, street violence, and poverty were creating an exodus of families leaving to other neighborhoods. Revitalization and reinvestment was desperately needed in the community.
Despite the problems, Adelina wanted her four children to grow up in Pilsen. However, she needed to find a way to improve her family’s housing situation. This would give her peace of mind so she could focus on making sure her children went to school and didn’t join gangs.
It was during this time that the Salgados learned The Resurrection Project (TRP) would be building 100 homes in the community to provide a housing stock that would stabilize the community and build healthy communities one block at a time through homeownership. The 100 new homes would be part of a public lottery that would be held at one of the local parishes.
On the day of the lottery, the Salgado family arrived to a packed church. They were assigned ticket number 87.
The parish was bursting with excitement as they began pulling out the winning numbers. When Adelina’s number was called, she couldn’t believe it.
Despite having one of the winning tickets, the Salgados were still skeptical. The home, which was being built on an empty lot full of garbage and broken glass, was still under construction and they couldn’t move in right away.
“When I was unsure about the process to get our new home I would call TRP staff and they were very helpful answering my questions,” said Adelina.
It was winter when the Salgado family got the keys to their new home. The Salgado family had finally made their dream come true.
“Having your own casita (home),” said Adelina, “is something positive even if you have to pay a mortgage because you are comfortable in it and there is more space.”
For the last 25 years, TRP has helped hundreds of people like the Salgado family achieve their dream of homeownership. As part of TRP’s Vision 2020 plan, TRP has increased its homeownership workshops and other services.
Recently, TRP also launched the Imagine More Campaign to raise $25 million to fund this vision. This will allow TRP to do more in five years than in the last 25 years and provide the financial resources necessary to leverage more than $460 million in community investment by 2020.
As a steward of community assets, TRP will impact an even greater number of people in the Chicagoland area like Elvira by creating or preserving 822 housing units and more than 157,000 square feet of commercial and community facilities.
Today, Adelina is proud of having raised her four children, all of whom are college graduates with professional careers ranging from engineering to nursing.
“There was a lot of sacrifice but we managed to build a good life here,” she said. “I am very proud of their accomplishments and that my children were able to move forward.”
However, there is still much to be done. TRP continues its commitment to balanced community development to help transform at-risk communities into communities of promise so that families like the Salgados can thrive.