One of the most prominent considerations in community-engaged learning and research is how faculty ensure that their partnerships are deep, meaningful, and non-transactional. For the past four years, Dr. Alexandra Délano Alonso and her students have investigated and practiced how deep partnerships can take shape in her course with Dr. Abou Farman at The New School, Sanctuary, and in other iterations of the course she has developed since focused on Mutual Aid, Accompaniment, and Solidarity.
In 2021, Project Pericles awarded a Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) Grant to Dr. Délano Alonso and Dr. Abou Farman. Periclean Faculty Leaders reimagine their courses by connecting academic learning with real-world challenges. In their course, Délano Alonso and Farman sought to explore the concept of sanctuary “as a form of imagining different new forms of community, responsibility, solidarity, accountability, and mutuality.”
Through this grant, Délano Alonso formed a partnership with a Bronx-based soup kitchen, La Morada Mutual Aid. Her students supported the organization to distribute free meals to new immigrants and neighbors in the South Bronx.
“Our goal is to illuminate the underlying causes of food injustice,” said Yajaira Saavedra, one of the Saavedra-Méndez family members who runs the mutual aid program at La Morada. “Our mission goes beyond merely tracking the daily number of soups served; it focuses on delivering each meal with intention and compassion.”
At the same time, the students explored topics such as the politics of migration, the sanctuary movement, and mutual aid. In partnership with La Morada, the students also spent the semester creating a zine that educates readers about mutual aid and illustrates how it takes place at La Morada.
“Involving students in this process not only deepens their understanding of these challenges but also strengthens our sense of community,” Saavedra said. The students’ work enabled La Morada to take control of its narrative. “The mutual aid zine encapsulates our shared experiences during the COVID pandemic and serves as a powerful reminder of our resilience.”
Since then, Délano Alonso’s partnership with La Morada has blossomed. She co-published an academic article in International Migration with the course’s students and has co-taught the course in semesters since. La Morada and Délano Alonso have distributed over 6,000 copies of the zine, which has generated interest from educators in other schools, as well as the Museum of the City of New York.
“The grant was definitely a seed that has grown beyond what we imagined,” Délano Alonso shared. The community-academic partnership has empowered Délano Alonso to advocate for civic engagement scholarship and pedagogy. Recently, she was invited to be a fellow at APSA’s Institute for Civically Engaged Research (ICER), as one of twenty fellows to share practices of civically engaged research.
“I shared what we had done with this project,” Délano Alonso said. “and it was an invaluable space to talk to PhD students and early career professionals who had been looking for ways to develop this kind of pedagogy and research practice.” She seeks to support PhD students doing similar work and is in the process of publishing a co-authored chapter about this in The Oxford Handbook of Grounded and Engaged Normative Theory.
When Délano Alonso discusses her teaching practices, she always stresses the importance of mutuality and depth within partnerships. Frequently, her conversations with students return to how to ensure their relationship with La Morada is reciprocal. Part of that looks like finding opportunities to showcase La Morada’s work, as well as consistently seeking ways to support them and grow the relationship .
“It’s not just a one-time thing, this kind of engagement,” she said. She emphasizes developing a relationship that can be sustainable, avoiding models of community-partner extraction. Some of her students have continued to volunteer with the organization after graduation. Every semester she takes students to La Morada and the Saavedra-Méndez family, who run the restaurant and mutual aid soup kitchen, has participated in numerous events and guest lectures she has organized. La Morada also caters at every event Délano Alonso organizes at The New School.
Often, partnership requires listening to understand the needs of La Morada. Délano Alonso frequently asks what the organization needs as they continue to work together. Their most recent request: more zines. Chef Natalia Méndez feels something is missing when they run out of their co-created booklets and simply want to be able to share them with those whom they serve.
To learn more about the Periclean Faculty Leadership (PFL) program that supported Alexandra Délano Alonso’s work at The New School, visit our webpage or browse syllabi of other PFL alumni on our Civic Engagement Resource Database.