December 18, 2024

Photo Credit: Aimee Levitt

A long-time Pilsen resident, Lupe* first became aware of The Resurrection Project (TRP) in 2019 after attending a Parent Mentor meeting at her child’s school. TRP trains Parent Mentors in Pilsen and Back of the Yards to support students in improving academic outcomes, engagement, and persistence. She says becoming a Parent Mentor gave her an identity outside of being a mother, “they know who you are and call you by your name.”

When the pandemic hit, Lupe was part of TRP’s efforts to deploy aid to individuals who might’ve been excluded from the federal CARES Act due to their immigration status. “That was the best part because I would go to the stores, the laundry mats, to where I knew people who could benefit from that help. It was fulfilling to inform people that we needn’t be afraid, that we could go out and obtain help despite being immigrants.”

As a Parent Mentor Coordinator, Lupe began to earn a stipend and that she says changed things, “now you have money coming into your home and you’re providing for your children and your family and that’s when we started being able to save and think about having a plan to buy a house because we had a higher income.”

Lupe is also an active member of TRP’s Mi Hogar (My Home) initiative. Mi Hogar is a network of Pilsen homeowners and residents that informs landlords and tenants about available housing resources and advocates for the development and preservation of affordable housing. Lupe and her family lived in one of TRP’s developments for nearly four years.

When she saw the apartment for the first time and learned about the rent, she said, “we prayed to God that we would be selected because we knew there were at least three other applications being screened.” Lupe’s family became TRP tenants in 2020, living in a three-bedroom apartment in Casa Colima and paying half the rent they had previously paid for a two-bedroom in Pilsen, “We were so, so happy in that apartment. I loved it because I wanted to stay in Pilsen. It was so big, and most important was what we would pay, which was half of what we were already paying in our old apartment.”

In 2022, Lupe and her husband began learning how to buy their first home and worked closely with TRP’s Managing Broker. The lack of affordable, single-family homes and the high cost of those that might be available had them expand their search outside of Pilsen. “We never wanted to leave, but we also knew we didn’t have the option to own here. Mi Hogar is still fighting for affordable housing on 18^th and Peoria.”

In 2024, Lupe and her husband became new homeowners in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. As was the case when she saw her apartment in Casa Colima, Lupe says, “The moment I walked in, I told my husband, this is the house!” Her husband wasn’t so sure because it lacked a garage, but this July, Lupe says she kept her promise to him, and they built one.

Reflecting on her connection to TRP, she says, “I’m here because I like working for the community. That’s my commitment- that people be informed and use of all the available resources. It’s my personal and professional commitment because you can’t separate the two- they’re linked.”

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The Resurrection Project (TRP) builds trusting relationships to educate and propel individuals, immigrants, and families to achieve their social and economic aspirations, stable homes, and equitable participation in their community. TRP is a leading provider of immigration services, affordable housing, and financial education on Chicago’s Southwest side.  

For more than three decades TRP has worked to improve lives by creating wealth, building assets, and engaging residents to be catalysts for change. Rooted in the Pilsen community, TRP’s impact now extends across the City of Chicago and through the State of Illinois; we are making steady progress towards leveraging and preserving more than $1 billion in community wealth by 2025.