This is the fifth and final post in our fall/winter blog series, Meet the Mentor: Hastings House Edition. Each week, we’ve introduced a different mentor from Hastings House, EMPath’s largest family shelter and longest-running program. You can meet previous weeks’ featured mentors here.

Esta entrevista fue realizada en español. Haz clic aquí para el original.
This interview was conducted in Spanish. Click here for the original.

Gloria has been working as a Housing Mentor at Hastings House for 11 months. She talks about this position and how her many years working in education in Guatemala has served her well at EMPath.

What do you do as a Housing Mentor at Hastings?

As Housing Mentors, we help maintain a pleasant atmosphere, where we’re all responsible for a safe and respectful environment in which everyone follows the rules of the building. Like in all houses, there are rules, and we have to comply with them. Following the rules is a way to respect each other.

Where do the rules come from?

The rules are set by DHCD [the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development]. For example, after 8:00 pm it’s “quiet time” – participants can’t be in the hall making a lot of noise, because there are people who work and go to school. We also check who among the participants leaves the building, what time they leave and what time they return. Because in an emergency, it’s hard if we don’t know who’s inside and who isn’t, since we don’t know if someone is in danger inside the building.

We also help participants go to their appointments or whatever else they need. For example, if they don’t speak English, we help them make a medical appointment with their doctor, or we help them if they get a letter in English and they can’t read it themselves.

Sometimes we also give participants advice, but we always say this is what we would do, and that they have to make the decision themselves because we don’t make decisions for them. We only advise them. Sometimes their social workers [mentors] are busy with another participant, and in those cases a Housing Mentor acts as a support to the role of the social worker. We do activities with them – workshops, trainings, children’s games, and other cultural and fun activities inside and outside the building. But now that’s not really possible because of the pandemic.

We’re a family here. We work with families regardless of race, color, creed, nationality, political beliefs, the age of the mother.

I love that metaphor of a family.

When my daughter says to me, “Where are you going?” I always say, “To my second home.” Because Hastings is my second home. I have to see it that way, because I want it to be a friendly environment, full of care and love. We have participants here who have suffered violence and things of a different nature. They need to see us not only as someone who watches over them so that they follow the rules, but also as someone who can support them in moments when they need it. It feels nice because you inspire confidence in them.

Did you work in a similar agency before EMPath?

No. When I came to this country, I had to start from scratch. I started working at a McDonalds, a Dunkin Donuts. Then I went to work at Newton North High School. My daughter studied there and I worked in the cafeteria as a cashier. After Newton North, I also worked as a cashier in a hospital, and in a nursing home. Currently, I work as a cashier at Boston College. I got this job through a colleague who worked there. I learned about EMPath through her.

Previously, in my country, Guatemala, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 17 years. I also worked with the government of my country. I was Coordinator of Special Education and Coordinator of Pre-Primary Education. All that gave me many years of experience working with mothers, children, young people, young women, and adults. I also studied for many years in my country; in 2005 I got a master’s degree in Educational Administration. All this has allowed me to complement the work I did there with the work I do here at EMPath.

Right, you have experience working with people.

Exactly. Thank God I have all that experience. Here I didn’t have the opportunity to get certification of my studies because unfortunately the English that I studied in my country was at the most basic level. Here I have to have fluent, advanced English. That’s affected me a little because I didn’t have the opportunity to go to college here.

I had to come [to the United States] to work, because I had a 16-year-old girl that I had to support so that she could get ahead and achieve her goals. That was my end goal when I got the opportunity to come to this country. It wasn’t for me. Everybody at my job in my country told me, “Why are you going to go? You’re not going to do what you’re doing here.” But I said to them, “It’s more of an opportunity for my daughter, not for me. She’s growing up.”

Now I tell them that yes, I have managed to do everything here that I used to do there. It’s a beautiful experience working for EMPath because after everything I’ve been through, working here is like reviving everything I did back there. And that excites me and encourages me to keep going, and it’s what motivates me when I see a participant who has come [to Hastings] with similar problems and situations. That helps me try to get closer to her. Of course, some are more open and share things, others don’t, but with those who I’ve had the pleasure of being their confidant or sister or friend, I’ve personally enjoyed that a lot.

I don’t want participants to see me as just a person who wants them to follow the rules. I try to win them over with trust, with affection, and with respect. And affection doesn’t mean you have to hug them. It’s the way you treat them and talk to them.

If you were Mayor of Boston, Governor of Massachusetts, a MA state legislator, or in another position of power, what is one thing you would change to improve the lives of people living in poverty and why?

I believe education is fundamental. I would open free public schools, with flexible hours and according to what a person can do or likes to do. An open system where we have schools with flexible hours, training and vocational workshops. For example, if I like sewing, there would be a sewing workshop with flexible hours according to my work hours or my children’s schedule. I would create public schools for workshops in carpentry, electricity, plumbing, pastry, etc. After, the students can create their own businesses. For me, education is the main thing for a person to be able to get ahead and have family financial stability. For everyone to be able to have a decent job. Because there are many students who can’t attend college. Where are they? Where do they get stuck? There are no economic resources where they’re stuck. They’re working in jobs where they’re not seen as having a chance to overcome, so they stay at the same level. I would also create public universities where students would be able to learn about self improvement, both personally and financially. I would support nonprofit organizations so that they can support vulnerable communities.

I would also create affordable housing programs for each person according to their finances. I would create credit funds so that people could start a business. We are a multilingual and multicultural country. We have many people from different countries, languages, and cultures. I would create student scholarships so that everyone has access to education and not only those who have good test scores. Because, for example, if there are young people who don’t have a home or money, how are they going to go to college if they don’t have access to scholarships?

Most importantly, I would create an immigration reform that we need so much in this country, so that immigrants can have decent work and aren’t afraid to go to their jobs. So that they can have their driver’s license and more funds. I want us all to have the same rights and the same opportunities. Because people who don’t have documents also support this country’s economy. Immigrants pay their taxes and they deserve the same things as I have [as a citizen].

Also, if I were governor, I would go visit places like ours [Hastings] and see the needs of the people living in these centers. I would make an action plan and involve governmental, private, and state organizations so that together they could help our people and eliminate poverty.

I’m voting for you for governor!

Actually, just a few days ago I saw an advertisement for “public office.” I stopped and said to myself, “Hm, how can I run for public office here?” It made me think about that idea. Maybe later on in the future, who knows, I may be bold enough to hold public office.

In fact, I went to Guatemala three years ago and there was someone who wanted me to run for mayor of my town. But I didn’t do it because back then I was still a resident of the United States and I didn’t want to lose my residency. But now I’m an American citizen; thanks to God I achieved that last year alongside my daughter. But I still have the desire to return and do something for my country, the place where I grew up. I come from a middle class family, where my parents had to work hard to give me education and family stability so that I could get ahead. And I don’t forget where I come from.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like to cook, be with my daughter, listen to music, and dance. I only have my daughter and a little dog who’s like the other child I never had. His name is Spike.

I like reading, going for walks, and doing charitable work for my country. When we go to Guatemala, my daughter and I bring food, clothes, and shoes for people who need them.

Is there anything else you want to add?

Our programs need more resources. There are resources, but the participants need more. If we had the necessary resources, we’d be able to help them more in what they need. Of course, we do support them, but not in everything they actually need. More resources are needed so that these programs can progress and grow and so that families can have more support.

Thank you to Claudio Ruiz of the Boston Interpreters Collective for help with this translation!