Alfredo E. Chango Jr. (Left), Elido R. Francisco Jr. (Middle), and Victor A. Cabral (Right)met in 2003 while attending Reading Senior High School. Early on, they decided they were meant for something greater and set out to make a difference in their community despite being surrounded by poverty, trauma, and low expectations. This spring all 3 men earned degrees in Social Work from Alvernia University and Marywood University.
What drew me to this story was the fact that they took this photo on the corner of North Front and Elm Streets, where they grew up, in hopes of inspiring younger generations who are facing similar obstacles and to pay homage to their neighborhood. Everyone usually loves to take the perfect picture in front of the normally beautiful school where they accomplished this goal but the fact that they took this picture in front of the local bodega where the real teachings of life occurred for them connected with me and the fact that I also grew up in the hood, I actually grew up in public housing so this picture for me is true art at its best. Congratulations men this picture says it all, no future explanation needed.
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake up in the day to find it was vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” -T.E. Lawrence
By Rosa Julia Parra