Veronica Quintero has only worked at Mercy Home for little more than a year, but her presence inside our Learning Center has become a source of encouragement and inspiration for our young people. 

Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Quintero has been working in the nonprofit field in her home city for the last 10 years. After studying Psychology at DePaul University, she originally wanted to become a youth or art therapist.

For more than the past year, she has worked in our education department, managing relationships between youth and tutors who help them with homework several nights per week. She also finds ways to support the kids socially and emotionally after school.

Veronica understands the impact that a long day at school can have on a child’s motivation to engage fully in tutoring at night. But by building relationships with the youth, fostering open communication, and innovation, she is able to encourage our young people to work hard toward their academic goals–not only in the classroom, but after school as well.  

One of the policies that she instituted with the kids is that they must be involved in at least one activity at school or at Mercy Home. 

“[An after-school activity] helps build that sense of commitment and confidence,” Quintero said. “After school programs and tutoring go hand in hand in trying to build youth’s confidence. With confidence, they can start to dream, work toward goals, and interact more comfortably with the world.”

This fall, for example, youth have options to participate in chess club on Mondays and a craft club on Thursdays. Both activities help stimulate learning and build confidence while offering our young people quality time with peers. Quintero said that some of her favorite moments at work have come when a young person approaches her desk and asks for her help starting a new club or activity. 

“That melts my heart and makes me so excited to make this a welcoming space where they feel not only comfortable to advocate for themselves but [in] using their resources around them to cope or deal with boredom,” she said.