BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Illinois Wesleyan University alumnus Juan Salgado ’91 has conversed with the presidents of nations, worked closely with heads of major corporations, and been honored by the city of Chicago. Yet for Salgado, the work he does as the CEO of the Instituto del Progreso Latino is all simply part of doing what he loves.
“You never know where the work you do will take you,” said Salgado. “You just have to stay grounded and do something for which you have a passion.”
The Instituto, which Salgado has led since 2001, creates educational and workforce opportunities for Latino communities in Chicago. The not-for-profit was given an Award of Excellence from the U.S. Department of Labor in 2008, and in 2009 the Instituto was selected as the National Council of La Raza’s Affiliate of the Year.
Instituto’s mission is close to Salgado’s heart. Growing up in Calumet Park, Ill., he lived in a mostly white, working class neighborhood with pockets of long-standing Latino families. “My grandfather moved there from Mexico in 1918, and we grew up a block away from where my grandfather settled. So we had been there for almost a century,” said Salgado, who noted the neighborhood went through the phenomenon known as suburban flight, when many families moved to the suburbs. “By the time I went through high school, there were very few white families left,” he said. With resources being channeled to other communities, Salgado watched his neighborhood’s opportunities fade. “Even from a young age, it was already in my mind that I wanted to work with working class communities, promoting upward mobility and job formation in neighborhoods,” he said.