Have you heard of promoters? If you are thinking about the promoters in your DNA, that’s not the ones we are talking about. The model we are talking about are Promotores!

Promotores are leaders, residents, and helpers in their community. CommUniverCity has had the opportunity to expand on this model. This opportunity was available because of visionaries like Deputy City Manager Rosalynn Hughey. 

The Promotores Model dates back to the 1960’s in Central America where it started out as a grassroots movement. Before being the model it is now, with focus on community engagement and social change, it was a movement to train women on various health issues in their communities. This model was then adopted by the U.S in 1968 in different states, specifically in states with a high Latino population. In California this model was adopted as a social change model built on mutual empathy, trust, respect and understanding. 

According to Vision y Compromiso the three stages of the Promotores Model are 1) Relationship Building 2) Information Sharing and 3) Community Participation. Promotores are able to succeed in these because they share  similar backgrounds with those who they interact with because they are the community. They have the cultural and linguistic capacity to connect and build relationships in their communities and neighborhoods.

CommUniverCity will be working with a team of 14 Promotores this semester. Our Promotores come from different neighborhoods of San Jose. We outreached to participants from previous years Community Leadership Program and their next generation of leaders. We also recruited community members we’ve worked with, as well as members from  National Night Out at Martin Park.  

Our Promotores will create awareness about city resources, services and programs in their neighborhoods and communities. They will engage and conduct outreach in order to identify the recovery needs of the hardest-to-reach residents. This will be done with an array of activities and tasks such as tabling events, canvassing, presentations, and charlas [group conversations].

We are eager and excited to start this work. 

*Information gathered from Vision y Compromiso & The University of of Arizona Superfund Research Center*