(He/Him/El/Tu)
Chicago Lawn, Chicago
“So traditionally I give because I’m either connected to a friend in the non for profit, and it’s more about supporting them. In the last couple of years, it’s been more about – Do I believe in what the organization is doing? Do I feel connected to the organization? And I think that’s why I’ve been making a recurring gift to Crossroads Fund.”
Transcript:
My name is Mauricio Roman. My pronouns are He/Him/El/Tu. I was born in Mexico. Cuernavaca, Morelos, to be more exact. But I was raised in Chicago.
How have you traditionally made decisions about giving?
So traditionally it is because I’m either connected to a friend in the non for profit, and it’s more about supporting them. In the last couple of years, it’s been more about – Do I believe in what the organization is doing? Do I feel connected to the organization? And I think that’s why I’ve been making a recurring gift to Crossroads Fund. And when it comes to amounts, I think for me it’s more like how much is a Netflix subscription? If a Netflix subscription is $15, I think I could give that monthly. So that’s what I give ($15 a month). For me it’s more about that connection. Does the organization do work that aligns with my values?
Is there a goal that you have for 2024 that’s related to community, to social justice? Is there something that you want to learn more about, or an issue you want to get more involved in?
What’s my community involvement going to look like? So one, I want to volunteer more with environmental justice organizations. Um, in, quote, the South Southeast environmental justice organization. I’m in the task force in the southeast side. Also, I want to get more involved with the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. That’s where I would like to get more involved in, at least do a little more advocacy, as a Mexicano and talk to other Mexicanos, family members to try to tell them that what the media is saying is not right, It’s not a war, It’s a genocide. The other thing that I want to do is get a little more involved with the Treatment Not Trauma campaign. The more I go to therapy, the more I think mental health services are needed. Less police and more teachers, less police, more nurses in schools, less police, more counselors.
How many marathons have you run? And then I want to know, is there a connection that you make with running that’s related to social justice?
Yeah. So I started running when I was a freshman in high school, back at Farragut Career Academy High School and ever since I have run. I think I took a year off my first year of college. That’s when I learned that running has a mental health component to it. Like, the endorphins, the being outside. As a senior my counselor told me, hey, you need to do all these service hours for you to graduate.
And that’s when I met Lorena Lopez, former open space organizer at the Little Village Environmental Justice organization that we’re doing, the Open Parks campaign. Through running, I was able to see the disparity, I was able to travel outside the neighborhood, see different schools and see the disparities between the schools on the North Side and the South Side. And, you know, this is just a span of a couple of miles. You’re able to see how schools were funded differently. Um, the other thing that I learned through running was that I couldn’t run in Little Village. There wasn’t enough green space for me to run. We had to go to Montrose Beach, 31st Street beach and forest preserves.
So, you know, learning about the connections between open space and public health. Like the more open space you have, the less obesity you have, the less diabetes you have, the less child obesity you have. so I’m grateful for that. So I have run about six marathons!
The transcript has been edited for clarity to make it readable.
