A Community Champion
A homegrown daughter of Nogales
Article in the Nogales International
September 23, 2005
Cecilia Rosales
Nogales is a small community, but a small community with a big heart. There are countless people who have dedicated their lives to serving their community in some capacity. Some leave to pursue job opportunities, some to live in more urban settings and others leave to pursue educational opportunities. These same individuals, for the most part, happily return ito their hometown seeking to make a difference. This epitomizes one of Nogales' homegrown daughters referred to by her family as Silvita.
Attends MIT
Silvia Robles was raised in Nogales, Ariz., and graduated from Nogales High School in 2003. She is a mathematics major, classified as a junior (third year) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, Mass. A year, ago she was planning to return to Nogales for the summer and thought long and hard about what she wanted to do during that time. For most students, it's easy to come home and vegetate, especially given the intensity of their studies throughout the year. For Silvia, it was more about what she could do for her community in a short period of time that would have the greatest impact, while home relaxing and waiting to return and complete her junior year, Silvia came across an opportunity offered by her institution: a program through the MIT Public Service Center called the Vector Fellowship. The Vector Fellowship provides MIT students the opportunity to return to their hometowns to perform community-service projects of their own design. As soon as she read the description of the program, she knew it was her chance to give back to the community that had given her so much.
Aware of problems
As a member of the Nogales community, she was well aware of multiple problems that affect residents of Nogales. She was especially concerned about what she perceived to be a high number of teen pregnancies in her community. She was also concerned about the effects an unplanned pregnancy has on the lives of young adults. It was this personal experience that led her to consider designing a project focused on helping teen parents stay in school and succeed. This idea was fueled when she did the preliminary research on teen pregnancy in Arizona for her application for the fellowship. Although the number of births for women aged 15-19 years has decreased nationally, over the years, the rate of births to teen-age mothers of Hispanic origin remains the highest of any ethnicity. Arizona has one of the highest birth rates for that age group in the country, ranking 5th among the 50 states (National Center for Health Statistics, Births Final Data for 2002). The project addressed the numerous issues surrounding teen pregnancy in the community, including prevention, health care, community awareness, and the continuation of the young parents' education. It was determined the best way to capture this information, was through the development of a community-resource guide. Silvia made countless phone calls and reviewed materials about local organizations and programs that Nogales has to offer. A database was created and a pocket-sized, user friendly booklet was designed and printed. The Community Resource Guide offers information about services in Nogales that assist pregnant women.
Guide distributed
Also, it helps women with adolescents and small children navigate the health and social services systems. The guide includes information about education, counseling, day care, health services, parenting classes, legal services, financial assistance, clothing, housing, nutrition and jobs. The booklet has been distributed in Nogales, including the high schools and community health centers, as well as clinics in Patagonia and Rio Rico. This information serves as a guide for young women who need the necessary resources to rebuild their lives after an unplanned pregnancy. The information can also be obtained online at http://web.mit.edu/oak_tree/www/maternity.html. Special thanks to the community of Nogales, especially the organizations that collaborated on the project including those listed in the Community Resource Guide, the MIT Public Service Center, the Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Border Health, Nogales High School Med Club, Mariposa Community Health Center, Southeastern Arizona Area Health Education Center (SEAHEC), and the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.
(Editor's Note: Rosales, M.D., M.S., is an associate professor in Public Health Policy and Management at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. She is a public health practitioner and has been involved in community based public health practice and research on the U.S./ Mexico border for several years. Dr. Rosales, supervised and mentored Silvia Robles this past summer)
