Excerpt... A pioneer in the community health network, Ilda considers her advocacy and community building as part of her life’s purpose. "Now it’s my turn. I say, they helped me and now it is my time to help the community." In 2024, she won a Community Health Worker of the year award. The glass trophy is featured near a caricature of her and another promotora. Their nickname: “Las Sunshines” – which would be a great name for a Tejano music group. As an advocate, Ilda has gone to the state house to demand that Illinois expand medical assistance for immigrants, regardless of legal status.
Excerpt...
A pioneer in the community health network, Ilda considers her advocacy and community building as part of her life’s purpose. "Now it’s my turn. I say, they helped me and now it is my time to help the community."
In 2024, she won a Community Health Worker of the year award. The glass trophy is featured near a caricature of her and another promotora. Their nickname: “Las Sunshines” – which would be a great name for a Tejano music group.
As an advocate, Ilda has gone to the state house to demand that Illinois expand medical assistance for immigrants, regardless of legal status.
100LatinaBirthdays.com
100 Latina Birthdays is an original production of LWC Studios. It is made possible by grants from Healthy Communities Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women, the Community Memorial Foundation, and VNA Foundation. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series’ fiscal sponsor.
Inside a brick and glass-tiled building I hear heels echo down the hall.
The sun pierces through the glass, shining on blue, yellow, green and red paper flowers adorning the wall behind the reception desk. I’m at ENLACE - a Chicago nonprofit that supports residents of La Villita – where four out of five neighbors are Latino.
Driving around, it’s easy to see and feel their presence. Green, white and red triangle banners hang over the main thoroughfares and Mexican flags wave from the light poles.
It’s mid-afternoon, and I’m here to meet Ilda Hernandez. She’s a pioneer in Chicago’s community health network. She’s letting me tag along so I can get a glimpse of the work she has dedicated more than a decades to. She clearly has a calling for helping newly arrived immigrants navigate this country’s complex systems.
Within seconds of meeting her, I can tell that wherever she happens to be, Ilda makes sure everyone is cared for and feels welcome. At 60, she gives the kind of tight hugs that make you feel at home.
MUSIC
Ilda shows me to the main space where ENLACE holds weekly health clinics and community events. At the center is a kitchen, where Latino teens in ENLACE’s after-school program are hanging out laughing and joking around.
One of the teens greets Ilda, and offers her Hot Cheeto Puffs.
[AMBI: IH: “Hola, hola…” / Como estan?]
I follow Ilda down the hallway. As she walks, her blonde curls bounce as she opens a yellow door that matches her blouse, and cheery disposition. We sit at the conference table, and she starts typing on her computer.
Realizing I left my coffee on the receptionist counter, I run back out.
[AMBI: ILDA-No más dile que vas por tu café. Okay. Gracias. Y yo te yo te hablo porque como es con llave
VO 1: Just tell them you’re going for your coffee. And I’ll call you because it’s locked]
When I return the corners of her eyes crinkle, as she flashes me a wide smile.
She just got good news.
[AMBI: IH: Que me invitaron también para ser coautora de un libro de promotoras de salud. Qué suave. IH: Y me invitó para estar en el primero, pero después me dijo que que para otros tres más.
VO 2: I’ve also been invited to be a co-author for a book on community health workers]. And they invited me to be in the first one, then asked me to be part of three more.]
I snap some portraits of Ilda as she answers a few more emails.
[ambi: camera shutter]
This community center is her domain. She’s proud to be one of the founding members of a community health worker collective – giving back to the community that helped establish herself when she arrived in Chicago from Mexico 21 years ago.
MUX
Before leaving Durango, she visited family in Chicago.
HERNANDEZ 1: Desafortunadamente hubo un deceso en la familia y dijeron, "Pues ya mejor quédense aquí. ¿Qué van a hacer allá a México? Y si ya están todos aquí."
VO 3: Unfortunately there was a family death and they told me, “Well isn’t it better if you stayed? What will you do over there in Mexico? If everyone’s here?”
So she stayed – along with her husband and three young children, living with her sister-in- law.
HERNANDEZ 2: Estar en otra cultura es difícil con un niño de 13 años, con un niño de 6, con un niño de 1 año es difícil, pero yo me aferré a un lugar nuevo donde estamos y poder aprender, ¿verdad?
VO 4: Being in another culture is difficult with a 13 year old, six year old and one year old, it’s hard. But I anchored myself to this new place where we now lived and tried to learn, right?
The new city was daunting, but she found a neighborhood that felt like a small slice of home.
HERNANDEZ 3: Me identifiqué mucho porque es la gente de habla hispana, hablamos todos español. No tienes miedo de conversar con alguien, entonces eh te sientes como como tu familia. Aunque sean de otro país, pero hablan el idioma.
VO 5: I felt represented because I was surrounded by Latinos, all of us spoke Spanish. So I wasn’t scared to have a conversation with someone, because it felt like I was among family. Even if it is a different country they spoke my language.
When she first arrived in La Villita, Ilda says she really loved being in a community where she could speak freely and easily with other Spanish speakers. That gave her the confidence to ask other parents at her children’s schools where to get her kids vaccinated.
Spanish is everywhere here. Most of the signs for businesses and churches in the area are in Spanish. Some corners are accented by jewelry stores, traditional Quinceañera dress shops, party stores with piñatas in the windows, and local butcher shops.
But there’s another side to La Villita that has been present since Ilda and her young family settled here.
HERNÁNDEZ 4: Nosotros estamos en un barrio Vicky donde las gangas son fuertes. … desde hace 20 años que yo llegué y ahora no se quita eso.
VO 6: We’re in a neighborhood where the gangs are everywhere, since 20 years ago when I arrived and that doesn’t go away.
She tells me raising her sons here kept her vigilant of the gang violence that was often on display in the neighborhood.
Today, La Villita still has high poverty rates and overcrowded housing. Amid those difficulties, Ilda has found a calling.
HERNANDEZ 5: Somos con el salario mínimo, que son las rentas altas y que el salario de una persona a la semana no es más que de que $15 la hora, $600 por semana. Y una renta es de $1,500. ¿Cómo va a tener para ir a un doctor? ¿Cómo va a tener para pagar un mamograma que vale como qué $700, por ejemplo, $450? No, tenemos que darle la información de dónde con estos ingresos que ella tiene puede ir a que pueda tener estar en un programa de de para para un mamograma gratis.
VO 7: We have the lowest salaries, with high rents, where people make around $15 an hour, $600 per week. Then rent is $1,500. How will they have enough to go to a doctor? How will they pay for a mammogram that costs, what, $700, for example, or $450? No, we have to give them information where they can get help, that they can go somewhere and that there are programs for a free mammogram.
Every day, Ilda connects people to medical care, people who are overwhelmed by continuing ICE raids and the presence of officers in the area.
Back then, she met a woman who opened opportunities for her.
HERNANDEZ 6: Me involucre en la escuela tanto en comités como en todas las reuniones. Aprendí di eh mucho de los talleres que había, mucho de lo que es de salud, mucho de las barreras que uno como inmigrante enfrenta. Entonces dije, "No, de aquí soy." Llevaba mi libretita, anotaba y dije, "Yo quiero pertenecer aquí …. en todo en todo para ayudar
VO 8: I got involved at the kids’ schools – a bunch in committees, in all the meetings. I found out about all the workshops, a lot of it had to do with health, and about the barriers that one as an immigrant faces. So I said, No, this is where I belong.’ I brought my little notebook, noting everything and said I want to belong here, everywhere and in every way to help.
Ilda is also really creative.
Hoping to shield her young sons from gang activity, she had an idea.
HERNANDEZ 7: Mi esposo sabe tocar todo. Cuando estaban mis hijos chiquitos, sí, sí. Tenemos un grupo. Mi esposo, yo, pues yo le decía que yo era la bailarina. [laughs - fade out] … Es así como él dijo, "Prefiero enseñarles la música a que anden en la calle."
VO 9: My husband knew how to play everything. When my sons were little, yup, yup, we had a group. My husband, well I said I was the ballerina. [laugh] It’s how he said, ‘I’d rather teach them music than have them wandering the streets.’
Ilda is a woman with gusto. While at her son’s schools, she was always the first to raise her hand and volunteer her time. She dove in head first, trying to learn, and always asked questions.
HERNANDEZ 8: Preguntando, preguntando, porque si no preguntas no vas a saber y que hay personas tan buenas que dicen, "Okay, yo llegué igual como usted." Yo le voy a decir dónde está.
VO 10: Asking, asking. Because if you don’t ask, you won’t know and there are good people who say, “OK, I came just like you. And I will tell you where to go.”
After two years as a volunteer, the school had a job for her.
But she wanted to do more. She organized a group of Spanish-speaking women who wanted to become promotoras.
HERNANDEZ 9: hay 11 millones de de de personas en este país y Sí muchas eh la mitad a la es hispano, latino. Entonces, ¿quién ayuda a esas personas? ¿Quién las orienta a esas personas? Pues las promotoras de salud que de habla hispana.
VO 11: There are 11 million people in this country. If half are Latino then who will help them? Who will help them navigate? The Latino promotoras de salud.
The network was growing – and fast. From less than 10 trainees to 30 in a few years.
But she had a lingering question.
HERNANDEZ 10: ¿Qué hay detrás de promotoras de salud o qué hay más allá de promotoras? promotoras de salud. Entonces, ¿cómo yo puedo avanzar como promotoras de salud?
VO 12: What else is there beyond being a promotora de salud? How can we advance in our careers as promotoras de salud?
Like her, many of these women had limited education but had the dedication and desire to help. So when Ilda found out a CHW program at the Arturo Velasquez Institute at the City Colleges of Chicago had been set aside, she pushed for them to reconsider.
At the time, her supervisor told her the college was not interested.
HERNANDEZ 11: Le dije, "No, ¿cómo que no lo van a querer?"
VO 13: I told her, ‘How could you not want this?
The idea with the program was to open better career paths so people could earn well while doing what they love. She and a group pulled together the curriculum, presenting it to Alicia Rodriguez, dean of the technical college.
The dean was interested and agreed to submit the curriculum for revisions and a review.
But, Ilda had one request:
HERNANDEZ 12: Y le dije, "Pero póngale que es en español."
VO 14:And I told her, “But put that it’s in Spanish”
After three to four months in the review, the curriculum was approved and the program launched. 10% would be in English and the rest in Spanish, just as Ilda had asked.
Within the past decade, Ilda has helped organize and mentor a growing network of promotoras de salud. She advanced at ENLACE by signing up for workshops, classes and, later, getting certified from the Arturo Velasquez Institute as a community health worker.
She was part of the first class to graduate with a certificate in 2020. Since then, around one hundred completed the certificate program she helped champion.
MUSIC
A pioneer in the community health network, Ilda considers her advocacy and community building as part of her life’s purpose.
HERNANDEZ 13: Ahora eso es lo que me queda a mí. De, digo, ellas me ayudaron, ahora me toca a mí estar ayudando a la comunidad.
VO 15: Now it’s my turn. I say, they helped me and now it is my time to help the community.
In 2024, she won the Community Health Worker of the year award from the CHW collective, One Lawndale. The glass trophy is featured near a caricature of her and another promotora. Their nickname: “Las Sunshines” – which would be a great name for a Tejano music group.
Ilda’s work extends to advocacy. She has gone to the state house to demand that the state government expand medical assistance for immigrants, regardless of legal status.
HERNANDEZ 14: Pero desafortunadamente este año, a principios de este año, el gobernador cortó, ya se puede decir que personas de 42 a 64, se les va a terminar su cobertura de salud. Y estamos muy tristes, porque ¿qué va a pasar con esa gente que tiene cáncer? ¿Qué va a pasar con esa gente que toma medicamento para la diabetes? ¿Cómo la va a pagar?
VO 16: But unfortunately this year, at the start of this year, the government cut, we can already say that people 42 to 64 will lose health coverage. We’re really sad because what’s going to happen to people with cancer? What will happen to people who take diabetes medication? How will they pay?
Despite victories to secure Medicaid-like coverage for undocumented seniors, recently the Illinois general assembly eliminated funding coverage for some undocumented low income adults.
HERNANDEZ 15: estamos en el limbo?
VO 17: We’re in limbo
Health care in the U.S. is already expensive, she says, and taking away coverage puts vulnerable middle aged and senior immigrants at risk of delayed care. People with similar stories as her, who simply want to lead a healthy life.
HERNANDEZ 16: como promotoras debemos de alzar la voz para que esto se haga. Para que no la corten.
VO 18: As promotoras we should raise our voice so that this gets done. So they don’t cut the benefits.
For her, it’s about much more than health care.
HERNANDEZ 17: aunque no tengamos documentos sí tenemos esa pasión para trabajar y para sacar a a este país adelante, porque todos contribuimos, todos pagamos impuestos, entonces debemos de tener esa cobertura de salud. …
"Aquí tienen a promotoras de salud, aquí tienen un mano amiga … A mí me encanta ser promotora de salud.
VO 19: Even though we don’t have documentation, we do have the passion to work and to advance this country. We contribute, we pay taxes and so we should have health insurance. With us you have a promotora de salud, a helping hand. I love being a promotora de salud.
MUX
Ilda says her sons are the heartbeat of her story.
About an hour into her interview, she’s clearly done talking about herself. She picks up her phone to show me photos of her sons, her first granddaughter and late father in law. She wants me to listen to her sons’ music.
As she pulls up YouTube, she plays one of their songs as she points to and names her sons as they appear in the music videos on her phone.
[AMBI: Showing me her sons, pointing to them: Se llama Barúc…]
Now in their 20s, her sons are musicians. She plays “Regalo de Dios” by Proeza, which features her sons Barúc, the bassist and lead singer, and Saul, who plays the accordion.
HERNANDEZ: Mira, ahorita te voy a enseñar. Ay, es que estos hijos míos de veras. … Y el que canta. [Music plays] Entonces ese ese es uno. El otro se llama Proeza.
VO 20: Look, I’ll show you in a little bit. Ay, these sons of mine, I swear/ He sings. And that’s one, the other is called
Ilda nods, grinning, her eyes glued to her phone’s screen. She has another song to share.
HERNANDEZ 19: Este que está acá, que toca la tuba. Ese es mi hijo el más grande. Y aquí está Barúc cantando, mira. Ese es otro grupo.
VO 21: That one over there, he plays the tuba. That’s my oldest son. And there’s Baruc, singing, look. This is another group.
[AMBI OF A SONG BY LO NUEVO LECCION]
HERNANDEZ 20: que para mí es bonito porque su talento, su coraje, su estrés lo se desahogan en la música.
VO 22: It’s beautiful for me to see their talent, their grief and stress being channeled into through their music.
[AMBI: Proeza’s songs playing on Ilda’s phone, then fade into audio of the real song off YouTube]
And just as she has found her purpose, so have they. Twenty years on, Ilda has gone from newly arrived immigrant to an admired and respected leader.
Ilda grabs her laptop, her bag and walks me out on her way to her next meeting.
[MUSIC]
CREDITS
100 Latina Birthdays is an original production of LWC Studios. It is made possible by grants from Healthy Communities Foundation, Kellogg Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, The Field Foundation of Illinois, Pritzker Foundation, and The Chicago Foundation for Women, Chicago Community Trust, and VNA Foundation. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series’ fiscal sponsor.
Juleyka Lantigua is the series creator, executive producer, and editor. This episode was reported by me, Vicky Diaz-Camacho. Mixing and sound design by Florence Barrau-Adams. Fendell Fulton fact checked it. Kori Doran is our marketing associate. Cover Art by Reyna Noriega.
For more information, resources, episode transcripts, and Spanish translations, visit 100latinabirthdays.com. That's one, zero, zero Latina birthdays dot com. Follow us on Instagram, X, and Facebook at 100 Latina Birthdays.
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