Our Story
The Gage Park Latinx Council (GPLXC) was founded in March 2018 by three residents from Gage Park: Samantha A. Martinez, Katia A. Martinez, and Antonio D. Santos. Their experiences growing up in the neighborhood made the disinvestment and structural inequities in their community and the larger Southwest side of Chicago apparent. These issues ranged from a lack of green public spaces, insufficient investment in trauma-informed youth art programs, food insecurity, and health inequities. Additionally, mainstream media tends to depict Gage Park as lacking, dangerous, and unworthy of investment, which impacts how local residents think of themselves and view their neighborhood.
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Our Mission
Gage Park Latinx Council is a Queer, DACA, Latinx-led grassroots organization that runs two Cultural Centers in Gage Park, a neighborhood located on the Southwest side of Chicago. GPLXC organizes programs, spaces and initiatives holistically, through art, popular education, and direct actions grounded in social justice, mutual aid, and abolition.
Our Vision
GPLXC is unapologetically Queer and Latinx. Our organization is deeply rooted in Gage Park, and our entire team is from the communities we serve. Our work was born from lived experiences, and we take an uncompromising approach to community organizing that centers our values as Queer Latinx abolitionists. Together with our community, we are dreaming, building, creating, and revolutionizing how our communities are cared for.
Despite the complex structural issues and media misrepresentations, Samantha, Katia, and Antonio noticed that their families and neighbors practiced mutual aid to support and meet one another's needs when the government and social service agencies failed to do so. They knew that their neighborhood had dreams, knowledge, and practices to share with the world. Thus, the founding of GPLXC was a mutual aid effort to create a physical space in Gage Park where residents could receive support for their immediate needs and also serve as a space for young people to engage in popular education, organizing work, and arts-based projects.
Gage Park Latinx Council (GPLXC) operates two physical spaces in Gage Park, a neighborhood located on the Southwest side of Chicago that is 92% Mexican and Latinx. Gage Park has a predominantly immigrant, working-class population with 30% of the population being under the age of 18. GPLXC recognizes the intersecting systemic inequities that impact the quality of life for Gage Park residents, including limited access to quality and affordable healthcare, employment opportunities, financial support, green public spaces, fresh food, art education, and affordable housing. As a result, GPLXC organizes programs and initiatives in a holistic manner, understanding that people's circumstances shape their engagement, self-perception, and perceptions of what is achievable in their communities.