Little Village Native Lesandra Nava Gives Back to Community as Enlace Victim Advocate

Lesandra Nava, Victim Advocate at Enlace Chicago, is one of the many dedicated Community Violence Intervention (CVI) professionals throughout Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P) who lives and works in the very neighborhood they come from. Born and raised in Little Village, Nava came from one of the few Puerto Rican families in the neighborhood.

After being kicked out of high school during her freshman year, she spent several years affiliated with a street organization, a time she calls “running in the streets.”

But in her early twenties, Nava met a friend who took her down a different path, a world outside of Little Village. This friend was enrolled in art classes at Harold Washington College. For one of his assignments, he took her to the Art Institute of Chicago in the loop, a place she hadn’t been before.

“I remember he was sitting and looking at this painting. I didn’t know what he was doing. I asked him, ‘Why are we staring at this painting?’ And he told me the assignment was to break it all down—feelings, expressions, thoughts,” Nava said.

This experience expanded her worldview and created a new curiosity. She went on to enroll in poetry classes at Harold Washington College, and later received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education at DePaul University. She later married that friend.

After becoming an educator for a Christian elementary school, Nava reconnected with an old friend she knew from her time on the streets, Guillermo Gutierrez, Street Intervention Manager at Enlace.

To her surprise, Gutierrez offered her a role on Enlace’s team.

“I didn’t know what outreach was, I didn’t know what violence prevention was. I was just a little humble Christian school teacher, teaching my little ones. But I was still in my neighborhood, and there was still a desire inside of me to help my community,” Nava said.

Gutierrez saw her lived experience and identified her as a good example for people looking to change their lives. In June 2022, Nava began her career as an outreach worker, subsequently completing her training through the Metropolitan Peace Academy, and transitioned to becoming a victim advocate.

Nava’s experiences influenced her everyday work as a CVI professional.

“[It gave me] more compassion, more empathy, more understanding, more open-mindedness, because I know where the youth are coming from, because I’ve been there myself,” she said, stating that her experience as a teacher gave her the knowledge to work with families and their needs.

“Little Village is home for my family, so I’m able to connect with them on so many levels. […] When I say that’s my community, I live there, eat there, breathe there, love it.”

This also means she sometimes crosses paths with the young people she impacted as an educator.

“My work has brought me full circle,” Nava said, recounting a shooting incident that led her to the family of one of her former students. “I was so heartbroken. […] I had to put on my teacher hat. I had to use every hat I possibly had, street outreach, everything.”

“I never thought I’d be in CVI. […] I thought teaching was going to be my life. And look, here I am, sitting in the hospital, in another capacity, helping the same family.”

But being a role model, a nurturing presence, and a consistent supporter for her community is a fundamental part of her life. Bringing unity and peace to Little Village, to her family and her people, is what drives Nava’s commitment to CVI.

“How can I not be out here, where I was born and raised? [Where I went] to school, went to the corner stores? How can I not be in service to my community?” Nava said. “ I’m just trying to do my best to help as many people as I can.”

Metropolitan Peace Initiatives is proud to celebrate the life and work of women in community violence intervention (CVI). Read more stories here.