The Next Generation

In 1992, nine months after the Salvadorian government and the FMLN signed a peace treaty officially ending the twelve-year civil war, Sandra began developing a Cambridge-wide program for recently arrived immigrant teens. Over the years, Cambridge had blossomed into a city rich with immigrants from all corners of the globe, the city though, was still struggling to support its new population. When Cambridge Community Services, a local non-profit, decided to create City Links - a program to support young immigrants, they asked Sandra to take the helm. Twenty-two years later, Sandra remains the face and energy behind City Links.

The Story Continues

Sandra now directs the City Links program inside the Cambridge public high school - Cambridge Rindge and Latin. City Links supports over sixty students who participate in a range of weekly activities, including mentoring, paid city internships, weekly career readiness seminars, academic tutoring and community service projects.

Sandra’s students have traveled thousands of miles before arriving in her office on the second floor of the high school. They come from: Bulgaria, Brazil, Nepal, Tanzania and Sudan; from Haiti, Ethiopia, Venezuela, Bangladesh, China, and Togo; from the Dominican Republic, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, and El Salvador. Many come from places rife with conflict, and while they might not be ready to talk about their experiences Sandra makes clear from day one that she is there to listen if they want to speak.

While Sandra has made her home in Cambridge and in the United States – she became a United States Citizen in 1996 – she still makes frequent trips back to El Salvador. For years she visited her mother for Christmas. Her mother has since moved to the United States, but Sandra still returns to visit cousins and friends and, in her words, do the touristy things. Three years ago, Sandra began taking her City Links students to San Jose Las Flores, a Salvadorian town near the Honduras border. The town is famous for having resisted the government take over and for developing the community-led Popular Education movement – community schools that developed in the vacuum created by the closing of government schools during the Civil War. In 1987, as a sign of support for the people of El Salvador and as an act of resistance against United States foreign policies in Central America, Cambridge chose to became a sister city to San Jose Las Flores.

For Sandra, much about the war remains unresolved, few have been held accountable for the tens of thousands of deaths and disappearances. Her friends tell her that gangs now control many of the country’s towns. She worries about her country and her relatives and friends. But for now, Sandra’s primarily focus is on her home here in the United States, on growing City Links and on supporting a new generation of young immigrants.