During junior year, Jose Luis Avila III ’25 applied to Aliento’s fellowship program. Aliento is an Arizona-based organization working for the status of immigrants as well as their rights as humans in the United States.
“I was hesitant at first because I’m not directly impacted as far as myself, you know, I’m a U.S. citizen. My family isn’t directly impacted, but I was, you know like I said before, I’m drawn to the work that they do,” Avila said.
Avila found out that even though he is not directly impacted he was still able to apply, with Aliento making exceptions for people who have a passion, and involvement in the work. Over the summer, he received news that he had been accepted and he began work in August.
Avila said that he’s motivated to use his position to help with immigration reform.
“I’m kind of thinking that I want to just continue to pay it back in some way, right? Exercising the rights that I have, that they don’t have and working for them, working for pathways to citizenship and staying involved in the Community,” Avila said.
As a fellow, Avila is tasked with three events, with each being about different topics that all relate back to immigration reform.
One of the events will focus on what Aliento is, hosting it at Brophy, with some of the team from Aliento coming to speak to students. As well as creating an event focused on the arts and healing, having an art workshop creates a mental health aspect to the event. And then the last event would be an event Avila creates on his own, narrowing down to topics like in-state tuition for dreamers or other issues that relate back to immigration.
As an intern, Avila’s role is a bit different than the fellowship. His job is to hold the other fellows accountable for their work for Aliento, as well as to start to run the social media for their team.
“I’m now currently a fellow with Aliento. But I’m also an intern with them, so I’m kind of doing some double work there,” Avila said.
In addition to his work with Aliento, Avila is a part of a few organizations on campus like Advocacy Club, OEI committee, and the President of Hermanos Unidos.
His main platform for activism work is Brophy’s Advocacy club. During Junior year, Avila started to plan events on campus with the club. His involvement has been advocating for issues mainly focused on immigration reform such as fighting against Prop 314, advocating for Dreamers, and making sure humans are treated with the same rights.
Avila hosted one of his first event at Brophy during the beginning of last year. This event was Phone Banking against Prop 314, which is an anti-immigration bill. The phone bank was designed to call on legislators and representatives in Arizona to vote no for the Prop before it went to the public vote. He has now coordinated a similar event this year calling on people in Arizona not to vote for Prop 314.
Avila has been working on a teach-in with the Brophy community in October regarding Proposition 314, educating students and faculty members about the effects of Prop 314. This proposition will be voted on on November 5th, 2024 which is election day.
“My goal is to get Brophy to come out against it, so we can call it ‘Brophy Votes: No on Prop 314’,” Avila said. The goal of this teach-in is to focus on how it will impact Brophy students and families, further going against the Catholic social teaching that we learn.
Brophy Votes is “A campaign in line with Brophy’s Day of Democracy, Brophy Votes aims to empower students by promoting civic engagement and the importance of voting. Through education, voter registration and communication efforts, and advocacy, the campaign seeks to foster a sense of responsibility and active participation in the democratic process among all students, regardless of voting age or eligibility,” Avila said.
Aliento allows Avila to coordinate and stay organized for events he is planning with Brophy’s Advocacy club. They also push him to strengthen his leadership skills, find a focus on the immigrant community, serving undocumented individuals. They are also there to help promote the events he is planning with the club at school involving more than just Brophy Students with Advocacy work.
Avila said he does the work he does because he wants to be able to pay it forward for the next generations to come, putting in the work now, so others don’t have to worry is why Avila works for the rights of immigrants in our country.
“Aliento is the future for all Arizonans. It’s a place. It’s a community, that is working to ensure that every voice is heard. That trauma is being transformed into hope and action, and no one is being defined by their immigration status, but rather through their human potential,” Avila said.
