Enrique Davey Reflects on Hispanic Heritage Month

My name is Enrique, and currently, I am the only Bilingual Match Support Specialist on the team. A personal reason behind applying for this job was to be able to connect with Hispanic families in our community, as I have recently moved to the Greater Chattanooga area. As part of my job, I regularly speak with families who trust us in working alongside them, their kids, and our volunteers. From the start, I noticed that even though there are only a handful of Hispanic families in our Community-Based program, all of them have been part of it for several years, which made me wonder what the reasons behind this were.

After introducing myself to these families and the volunteers, I noticed a common background: the parents and guardians are immigrants. As such, they are the pioneers in building a support network for their kids here in town, while they themselves are learning how to navigate a new culture. Unintentionally, the Bigs took the role of guides on ‘America 101’ for these families once they started to spend time with their Littles. In turn, the Littles became ‘Cultural Interpreters’ for their families, a task a lot of kids from immigrant families can relate to.

I also noticed the great partnership between parents, guardians, and Bigs, despite the initial existence of a language barrier.  The mutual recognition and appreciation of their efforts toward the benefit of the Littles are inspiring. And even better, when I speak with the Littles, they say they are having lots of fun and a great time. These matches open a door for and to themselves to learn from new experiences, and to support one another in a way that might have not happened otherwise. This is wonderful considering that the Bigs are people we see and meet in our everyday life and, for the most part, these families did not know a lot of BBBS before enrolling in our programs.

As part of BBBS, I really appreciate being able to witness and assist these stories. Even more, I am grateful for the everyday actions that the Hispanic and Latino communities do here in Greater Chattanooga for the betterment of the place we call home. If the United States is a melting pot, then I would like to think of our Hispanic heritage as that extra something that keeps pushing us for more. If you do not believe me, then see how everyone always asks for more chips and salsa!

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- Enrique Davey

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