Mutuality and the Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Families in East Harlem: The Work of LSA Family Services

Mutuality and the Spanish-Speaking Immigrant Families in East Harlem: The Work of LSA Family Services is the title of an exciting faculty-led research initiative helmed by an interdisciplinary team of educators from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (Brenna Moore, Theology; Carey Kasten, Modern Languages and Literatures) and the Graduate School of Social Services (Lawrence Farmer), along with student researchers Rosaana Conforme, Carlos Orbegoso, Caroline Albacete, Maddie Hilf, and Malinda Eberly. The initiative strives to illuminate perspectives of Spanish-speaking immigrants in East Harlem and evaluate the effectiveness of relational, mutuality-based care practices as served to them by Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Services (LSA). Fordham's dynamic team of faculty and student researchers conducted interviews among both Spanish-speaking immigrant families and LSA staff, are analyzing the collected data, and will publish their results in two forms: a co-authored article and a video highlighting the voices and stories of these families regarding their experiences of integration and partnership with LSA and the work of LSA as a long-standing NYC nonprofit dedicated to serving vulnerable newcomers to the United States. With the goal of increasing the visibility of the University around issues of social justice and immigration in NYC, the team plans to screen their finished video for graduate and undergraduate student viewership across the LC and RH campuses with a panel featuring the researchers and collaborators, present their findings at the next “Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education” conference for US Jesuit colleges, and student researcher Carlos Orbegoso will continue working with LSA on this project under a Fordham undergraduate research grant, to be presented at Fordham's Spring Symposium for Undergraduate Research. The Center for Community Engaged Learning is proud to fund this initiative with a total grant of $10,000 across the fall and spring semesters and is thrilled to support the movement of such faculty-led efforts centering community engagement, particularly those in partnership with our city's most vulnerable populations.