Library professor Ann Peterson Bishop met Alejandro Luis Molina in June 2002, when attending the Puerto Rican People’s Parade in the Paseo Boricua neighborhood of Chicago. She had heard about this close-knit neighborhood and its multigenerational social action projects from Sarai Lastra, who was researching its community information systems for her dissertation. Alejandro serves on the Board of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and manages its information technology. He has also taught a computer class at the Albizu Campos High School, an alternative school located in the PRCC. Alejandro has volunteered in Paseo Boricua for the last twenty-eight years. The PRCC is a thirty-two-year-old institution in Chicago’s Humboldt Park that is guided by a philosophy of self-actualization and critical thought, self-determination, and self-reliance. It galvanizes residents around local issues such as gang violence, cultural preservation, economic development, community health, poverty, and human rights. The PRCC has spun off a range of affiliated programs that improve the quality of life in the neighborhood: VIDA/SIDA, an AIDS/HIV education center and clinic; the Family Learning Center (FLC), where young parents work toward their high school diplomas; Consuelo Lee Corretjer Day Care; Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School; and Café Teatro Batey Urbano, a neighborhood youth space where cultural expression and community action are combined.
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