Marvin Garcia is the Director of the Humboldt Park Community as a Campus Education Initiative and Chair of the East Humboldt Park Community Action Council of Chicago Public Schools. He also serves as the Executive Director of Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School. He worked for 13 years directing professional development for the Alternative Schools Network of Chicago, served 14 years on the Northeastern Illinois University Board of Trustees, and has been a member of the National Latino Education Research and Policy Board, the ASPIRA Inc. Board, and co-chair of the Puerto Rican Agenda of Humboldt Park Education Committee. He holds master’s degrees in Adult Education and Educational Leadership from National Louis University and Northeastern Illinois University.
Community as a Campus
The Humboldt Park Community as a Campus Education Initiative (CAAC) was founded in 2011 to support Roberto Clemente Community Academy and its feeder schools and promote pathways from Pre-K through college and careers. The initiative supports after-school programs at Richard Yates Elementary and West Park STEAM Academy funded through Illinois State Board of Education 21st Century and the Chicago Public Schools Sustainable Community Schools delivering tutoring, homework support, physical activity, and STEAM enrichment alongside family and parent engagement activities.
CAAC also facilitates the CAAC Sports Initiative funded by the Laureus Sports for Good Foundation, providing organized soccer, basketball, and volleyball and clinic experiences to six hundred students from 12 schools and the Classroom to Table Urban Agriculture Initiative that integrates hands-on growing and food system learning at eight schools. CAAC’s work is supported by partnerships with Chicago Public Schools Family and Community Engagement, the Chicago Park District, YMCA, and The Museum of Science and Industry. Community as a Campus meets biweekly with 25 community stakeholders at Roberto Clemente Community Academy to plan work and show case innovative programming in Humboldt Park.
