USD fellows break barriers near the border

USD’s first cross-border fellowship program to combat border region issues

YANA KOURETAS / FEATURE EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

Over the years, USD, and particularly the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice (KIPJ), increased its presence in supporting youths, women, and populations who need access to medical care, education, and other resources, from across the US-Mexico border and other similar areas susceptible to violence or crises. Although the university has a history of maintaining connections and facilitating community engagement in cross-border collaboration, the KIPJ launched a new program. The program intends to provide more space for local and cross-border individuals to initiate plans and projects toward increasing peace, justice, and education about migration challenges.

Instituted in June 2021, the program, called “Border Fellows Program,” will take place with one set of fellows for 12 months. Out of the competitive applicant pool of 500 candidates, only seven were chosen. Under this program, the fellows are given the agency and support to expand their ideas and initiatives that are geared towards tackling a particular issue in the border region. 

The program distinguishes its selections between “young fellows” who are typically students, or those who have newly entered the workforce, or have just launched their projects. The remaining individuals are classified just as border fellows. These are those who are already immersed in their professional lives, where they are working on their projects full time or have an established career. 

Each month over the course of the fellowship, the young fellows receive a stipend of $250, whereas the remaining individuals receive $850 because their projects are likely already  established, meaning that they work on their ideas, daily, in their full time jobs. 

Additionally, a group of 10 other individuals were selected as border allies, in recognition that they also had notable ideas for cross-border work, but did not make the selective group of the seven fellows. USD and the  Border fellows program will continue to offer them encouragement and support in hopes that, down the line, they can be instated in another class of fellows. 

Melissa Floca, program officer for cross-border initiatives, and the organizer for this program, started at USD in 2020. Floca emphasized that it was important to the program that a diverse range of individuals were chosen because of the vast set of problems that need to be addressed around and at the border regions of the U.S.

“We wanted to build a network for Kroc IPJ of people who are working in this space and to think about how we can use that network to create more capacity in the cross-border region to respond to moments of crisis, to reduce vulnerability, and to build an evidence base in terms of what does and doesn’t work,” Floca said.  

The problems that any region may typically encounter are exacerbated in the border areas at the moment, due to migration conflicts and the border’s closure for extended periods of time, among other things. Yet the fellows emulate hope and ambition as they kindle their unique projects in this region.

“There are so many serious challenges that the border region is faced with at the moment,” Floca said. “It has really been a bright spot for me to see how each one of our border fellows uses their own passions and talents from whatever space they are working in – whether it’s a factory, an academic institution, or an NGO – they find a way to contribute something to our community.” 

Three of the fellows, Floca notes, are working towards supplying job opportunities for the populations who reside in the border regions. 

Alina Bretón, one of the young fellows, is among this group. She instituted an on-the-job training site for migrants who come to her factory looking for a means of employment. Bretón helps oversee and train a different group of workers every two months, building sustainable work practices with each set of workers. In the factory, Bretón trains the workers to sew reusable bags for businesses to purchase and give to clients. When distributed, the bags include information about migration challenges in the region. During her program, the migrants have access to legal and health services resources ‑ that are lacking in most occupations in the border regions. 

Bretón relayed her source of inspiration as creating a service that would act as a stop on the journey towards employment and acquiring new skills.

“Everything started because I was thinking of how I can make a difference or how I can help others. I thought, ‘what if I can do training and teach these people how to use the machines and sew?’” Bretón said. “Then they can work here or maybe get employed in another place.”

Bretón has remained stationed across the border throughout the duration of the fellowship program and expressed her initial feelings of disconnection to the other border fellows and USD. However, the people that she trains and sees everyday radiate contentment in a situation that might outwardly be viewed as a hardship.

“They come here and they are dancing, and also when they are leaving they are dancing and happy,” Bretón said. “When the first person made the first bag, everyone was like ‘YEAH!!’” 

Aside from Bretón’s work, others funnel resources and direction to helping young people – that don’t have careers or are not in school – receive guidance to get back on their feet towards adulthood. One of the projects focuses on educating and training health professionals, nurses, doctors, and nutritionists to gain the skills to provide trauma-informed care for health and mental health issues. 

Another locally impactful project is one that helps a community park rehabilitation plan. Finally, one of the fellows also created a pop-up educational exhibit that travels to different middle schools in Tijuana. 

In just a few short months, the fellows have already made regional impacts. This initiative presents itself at an opportunistic time where border issues are heightened, and will set an example for others who are eager to delve into projects that will support vulnerable populations. 

The application for those who want to apply will come out early in Spring 2022. It will be available on the website, sandiego.edu/peace/border.