Who Are We?
Staff
Tony Alvarado-Rivera, Coordinator of Youth Programs and Trainings
Tony is a multi-issue community builder working and living within an anti-oppression and harm reduction framework. Alvarado-Rivera has worked with the groundbreaking About Face Youth Theatre as the Educational Programs Assistant using theatre and true stories as a tool for action and activism. While in New York, Tony worked as the Student Club and Leadership Specialist for the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network where Tony supported youth on a national level in campaigns supporting safer schools. Alvarado-Rivera most recently finished up their tenure at the revolutionary Broadway Youth Center as the Mentor Program Coordinator, which paired LGBTQ youth with adult mentors and fostered intergenerational dialogue across the city. After years of facilitating workshops with the Freedom Fellows and Rev UP! participants, Tony is honored to be working with CFS staff and community. Most importantly, Tony is thrilled to be working, supporting and being an ally to the Freedom Fellows who are among the fiercest organizers in the city.
Hilda Franco, Trainer (contract)
Hilda was born and raised in South Side of Chicago and graduated from Benito Juarez High School. As a Posse Scholar, Hilda received a full tuition scholarship to Carleton College, where she received a B.A. in History. Along with other fellow Posse scholars at Carleton, she took initiative in creating dialogues on campus surrounding critical global issues that affect local communities. An advocate of accessibility to quality education, Hilda also carries a strong passion for the arts. At the age of 18, Hilda became a teaching artist for the Goodman Theatre youth summer program. After teaching with the Goodman for five years, she developed a critical pedagogy that uses theatre to empower youth. Since then, Hilda has worked as a program coordinator for Options For Youth and taught an interdisciplinary Theatre, Literature, and Arts program at Little Village Lawndale School for Social Justice. She is currently pursuing a career in secondary social science education.
Genesis Gomez, Special Projects Intern
Genesis was born in Mexico, but was raised in both the North and South side of Chicago. She is a 2007 Freedom Fellowship alumnus who returned to CFS in 2010 for another fellowship year. Genesis graduated from Our Lady of Tepeyac High School in 2009 among the Top 10 in her class. After 9 months in North Carolina she has returned to Chicago and is glad to be part of the CFS family once more. Genesis is also currently working on her double major in Political Science and Foreign Languages.
Mia Henry, Director
Mia Henry is the founding Director of the Chicago Freedom School, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating youth-led social change. For the past 15 years, Mia has held leadership roles as an educator and activist in several capacities, including serving as the Associate Director of the Mikva Challenge, a Program Associate for Facing History and Ourselves, a program coordinator for the City University of New York and a high school teacher and International Baccalaureate (IB) program coordinator for Chicago Public Schools. Throughout her career, Mia has conducted many workshops and trainings for teachers and youth that connect history to social change. An avid traveler, she has been fortunate to have had several opportunities to merge her passions by leading educational trips for youth domestically and abroad. Recently, Mia launched a social enterprise, Freedom Lifted, that offers Civil Rights Movement tours in Alabama and Mississippi with proceeds supporting social movement history initiatives. Mia is also a Visiting Lecturer in the master’s degree program in Youth Development in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mia earned her B.S. in Sociology and Administration of Justice from Rutgers University and her M.S.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Hannah Jacoby, Outreach and Training Coordinator
Hannah was born and raised in Bozeman, Montana, but moved to Chicago in 2005 to attend the University of Chicago. While in college, she organized with the Southside Solidarity Network, a group that fights against gentrification and displacement. She also worked as the Social Justice Coordinator at the University Community Service Center where she provided training to other student activists. Throughout college she coordinated youth debate leagues for the University of Chicago’s Civic Knowledge Project and the Chicago Urban Debate League. Hannah graduated in 2009 with a B.A. in Political Science, and has been working at the Chicago Freedom School ever since.
Former Staff
Alex Poeter, Director of Organizing
Shonettia Monique, Wellness Coordinator
Jacky Luna and Vanessa Robledo, MSW Interns