Research Spotlight: Vanessa Estrada Garza and Yessica Green Rosas
Vanessa Estrada Garza, a McNair scholar and ethnic studies and psychology major, is working alongside mentor Yessica Green Rosas, PhD, assistant professor of psychological sciences in the UNIDOS Lab. They are working on a project titled Corazón de Nopal, Alma de Monarca: A community-based participatory research (CBPR) project with Border Angels, a nonprofit organization focused on migrant rights and immigration reform. By utilizing a CBPR model, the project allows the communities they engage with to have a voice and co-create the project with them. They are working to highlight the lived experience of day laborers; a community with whom Border Angels works with.
Being a child of immigrants, Estrada Garza feels passionate about this research. After discussing different Border Angels initiatives, she and Green Rosas decided to focus on Day Laborer Outreach. The population is in need and are often made invisible despite the work that they do in the community is very visible.
Estrada Garza and Green Rosas do both community work and behind-the-scenes work, making each day look a bit different. When out in the community, they visit different Home Depot sites, engage with the day laborers there and offer services. The laborers at Home Depot tend to be pretty open and comfortable when speaking with them. The number of day laborers at each site varies depending on any recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity or site security. They have focused on relationship building and providing needed materials and services to individuals on site, and will be conducting interviews with interested participants in the near future. The behind-the-scenes work consists of going through literature, meeting with community partners and working on different materials in preparation for data collection.
Estrada Garza is currently reading an ethnographic study from 2007 on the day laborer experience and she is seeing many similarities with what is happening today. She mentioned that this is one of the most unexpected parts of this research because, even with a nearly 20-year gap, there is still a lot of resemblance in the data.
Throughout this research experience, Estrada Garza has gained the skill of being able to truly connect with different people on a personal level. The day laborers that she is seeing tend to be on high alert, so being able to read their body language and attitudes has helped her develop interpersonal skills.
The end goal of this project for Estrada Garza and Green Rosas is to give light to lived experiences and humanize the voices of people who are giving so much to the community. They are hoping to help others understand why people immigrate and that it is a need, not a want. They also hope to see what policy advocacy and further community support they can provide for the day laborers.
They advise students wanting to get involved in research to find something they enjoy and are passionate about. It is possible to make a research project personal to you, and it makes research that much more interesting and enjoyable. They would suggest continuing to reach out to professors, even if they are not all currently looking for student help on their projects. Reach out again and continue to show interest.