Paz-Cedillos: The power of place — and the courage to stay the course

Two weeks ago, I joined more than 700 community builders, educators and changemakers in San Diego for the William Julius Wilson Institute’s Power of Place convening — an annual gathering hosted by the Harlem Children’s Zone. What began as a small meeting of 120 practitioners four years ago has grown into a national movement: a network of people who refuse to accept poverty as destiny.

The William Julius Wilson Institute, founded by the Harlem Children’s Zone, champions the belief that ZIP codes should not determine futures. Its work is evidence-based, long-term and unapologetically rooted in neighborhoods (place-based). As Christian Rhodes, chief national impact officer of Harlem Children’s Zone, reminded us, this movement is “about people who refuse to accept poverty as destiny.”

Those words resonated deeply. Because in East San Jose’s Mayfair neighborhood, we’ve been championing the same truth for over a decade. Through the Sí Se Puede Collective, organizations like SOMOS Mayfair, the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, Veggielution, Grail Family Services and Amigos de Guadalupe have built a model of resilience, collaboration and love that echoes the Harlem Children’s Zone.

Four women came together because they were tired of competing for resources that were never enough to meet the needs of our community. They worked through their differences to center the youth and families of Mayfair — and to demand more. During COVID-19, the collective mobilized faster than government systems could, protecting our community when it mattered most.

At the convening, one question kept surfacing: Who has our kids?

The answer must be us — the collective us, the systemic us. That means setting aside egos and doing the hard work of collaboration: fixing broken systems — or, in our case, building bridges between them so our families don’t fall through the cracks.

And let’s be clear: If we lose focus, the kids lose.

As Harlem Children’s Zone founder Geoffrey Canada said, “children are the seed corn of our communities.” They inherit our successes and our failures. They are what America is supposed to be about — the possibility of renewal. To center them is to commit to a future larger than ourselves.

I know many of my colleagues are tired. I am too — one would think that the creases under my eyes have become permanent. But I was reminded that leadership in uncertain times has always been the blueprint for change. Today is not our worst day. America’s history is filled with darker chapters — genocide, slavery, exploitation. Our task is to confront that truth and still choose to lead.

And as we lead, let’s remember: Progress takes time. The Harlem Children’s Zone took 20 years to refine its model — two decades of trial, failure, learning and iteration. We must give ourselves, and our communities, the same grace.

Every neighborhood is different. What works in Harlem may not work in Mayfair, and that’s okay. Place-based work honors those differences — it doesn’t erase them.

To our funders and partners, I offer this: Once you believe in us, trust us. Fund us, and be patient. Real transformation doesn’t happen in grant cycles, it happens over generations.

The power of place is not just a slogan. It’s a promise — to stay rooted, to keep showing up and to believe that change is possible. Because the courage to stay the course is how transformation begins.

San José Spotlight columnist Jessica Paz-Cedillos is the chief executive officer at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Her columns appear every first Monday of the month. Contact Jessica at [email protected] or follow her on LinkedIn.