Tag Archives: youth activism

Becoming, Belonging, and Beloved

Becoming, Belonging, and Beloved

Justice Demands the Freedom to Live the Truth of Who We Are Fully

Taylor Demby
October 30, 2025

 

What does it mean to live truthfully, not only for ourselves but for those who came before us and those who have yet to speak their truth? For LGBTQ+ people, this is both a celebration and a reminder that visibility is personal and political.

2025 Sr. Carol Coston Fellow Taylor Dembry

Taylor Demby

Every coming out story carries the weight of generations of struggle and courage, serving as an echo of the work of queer ancestors who risked everything so that others may live openly today. Young advocates have an ongoing responsibility to honor this legacy with faith, goodwill, and a strong commitment to justice. 

Coming out is often depicted as a single moment of revelation, but I believe it’s better understood as a continual process of becoming. For some, coming out means naming a truth aloud for the first time. For others, it means choosing honesty in spaces where silence was once the safer option. In both forms, coming out is an act that insists on dignity. The decision to live authentically directly challenges systems that depend on factors like invisibility and shame to maintain control. 

Coming out is both an inherent act of resistance and a testament to hope. Queer ancestors understood this deeply. Prominent figures like Audre Lorde, Sylvia Rivera, and Harvey Milk embodied great courage during their time, each finding revolutionary ways to blend honesty with love, protest, and compassion. They lived in eras that punished authenticity, yet their defiance came from a deeply rooted faith that truth, belonging, and acceptance would outlive fear. 

Many more whose names we may never know quietly built the foundations of the communities we depend on today; their collective belief in a freer, more accepting world that could exist outside of their lifetimes continues to shape how we respond to injustice. Honoring the legacy of queer ancestors means not only remembering their names, but also emulating their radical belief in belonging. They didn’t fight courageously to be merely tolerated, they fought to be fully embraced. 

We must understand the vital role that intersectionality plays in the perception of the LGBTQ+ community and the likelihood a queer person will be met with acceptance should they choose to come out. Intersectionality reminds us that identity, race, class, and faith shape each person’s journey differently. 

A Black or Brown queer person may face racism within queer spaces and homophobia within their cultural or religious communities. Immigrant and undocumented individuals risk family separation or legal danger when they reveal who they are. Individuals with disabilities or people living in poverty may find that the material costs of honesty are steep. Recognizing these intersections helps us keep our understanding of coming out grounded in empathy and realism. 

Approaching this legacy with faith and goodwill does not mean naive optimism. It means holding firm to the conviction that every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and care, not conditionally, not quietly, but fully. Solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community consists of dismantling the systems that treat acceptance as conditional or transactional and instead working to build a culture where everyone is free to be whole. 

This work must be carried out in every corner of our communities, from classrooms to workplaces to places of worship. On a personal level, solidarity can look like offering quiet acts of reassurance in the form of a conversation, a letter, or a shared meal. These gestures should be offered with the genuine intention of reminding friends that they are seen, valued, and entirely embraced. These acts are expressions of faith as much as they are acts of justice. 

As an advocate inspired by the principles of Catholic Social Justice, I seek to ground my advocacy work in the conviction that dignity and justice are inseparable. The common good demands that our social systems create conditions where we all can flourish. These values transcend religion and spirituality; they speak to a universal moral responsibility. When applied to the act of coming out, we’re challenged to look beyond tolerance and move toward radical acceptance; we’re challenged to build communities where authenticity isn’t met with discomfort or quiet approval, but with celebration, sincerity and care.

 

Taylor Demby is a sociology major at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio and a Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L).

image of the US Capitol with a caption calling on Congress to protect health care

Hey, Congress: Care is What Really Matters

Hey, Congress: Care is What Really Matters

 

Deliberate Distractions Must Not Derail Our Efforts to Protect Health Coverage for Millions of People

Jackalope Labbe
October 29, 2025

 

Every week brings a new wave of confusion regarding health care from the Trump administration. One day, it’s HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. making unfounded claims about over-the-counter painkillers and autism. The next, it’s open skepticism about childhood vaccination schedules. At the same time, the Department of Health and Human Services touts that most people don’t need regular care. The chaos this creates serves a purpose. It is meant to dominate attention and drown out the real story.

Jackalope Labbe, a Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK's Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.)

Jackalope Labbe

While everyone argues about medical conspiracies, some lawmakers in Congress have worked to dismantle and defund major parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). When public focus is fixed on fringe controversies, it becomes easier for lawmakers to push through such a devastating policy change. While the media churns out headline after headline on the newest baseless claims coming from members of the current administration, Congress is preparing to let the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits expire.

The ACA’s premium tax credit lowered the cost of health care for millions of people by capping how much we pay for coverage on the ACA marketplace based on our income, making premiums either free or affordable for millions of low- and middle-income families. It is the only way millions of people in the U.S. can afford health care. Without this, insurance companies are surging their rates, leaving us with more expensive, less effective health care.

Since being introduced, the ACA premium tax credits have transformed access to health care in our country. Enrollment in ACA marketplace coverage hit record highs in early 2025, driving the uninsured rate to its lowest level ever. Today, more than 24 million people rely on these tax credits to afford their insurance. An estimated 4.8 million people will lose their health coverage entirely because they can no longer afford it without the premium tax credits.

These aren’t abstract numbers. They represent parents choosing between rent and insulin, young adults aging out of their parents’ plan with nowhere to turn, and rural hospitals forced to close their doors as patient numbers drop.

As frustrating as this political theater feels, anger alone won’t change minds. Our community members echoing misinformation about vaccines or Medicaid aren’t doing so out of hostility. They’re scared. Years of rising costs, confusing bureaucracy, and inaccessible care have left so many feeling alienated. When leaders exploit that fear, it breeds mistrust, making people more vulnerable to conspiracy theories that tell us the system was never meant to help anyway.

If we respond with outrage, we alienate those who could join with us. Empathy does not mean agreeing with misinformation; it means understanding the concerns that fuel it. When we center conversations around shared experiences, we remind each other that health care is a universal issue. Compassion is not weakness; it’s a strategy for rebuilding community.

Much of the misinformation flooding social media targets one of the most vulnerable emotions in the country, a mother’s fear. False claims about medications during pregnancy or routine childhood vaccines being dangerous are designed to strike where the instinct to protect intersects with trust in science. These stories circulate because they sound caring, reframing misinformation as maternal caution rather than political manipulation. This strategy is deliberate.

When fear takes hold, it erodes trust in the healthcare systems families depend on. Instead of feeling supported by doctors and public health agencies, parents feel suspicious of them. This cycle of fear doesn’t just isolate families; it weakens collective confidence in public health, making it easier for lawmakers to justify cuts to the programs that keep those same families healthy.

This government shutdown is not just another budget debate; it’s a turning point. The distractions, conspiracy theories, culture wars, and partisan gridlock are meant to make us forget where we need to focus: keeping health care accessible. This means protecting the ACA, including premium tax credits.

Every phone call to a representative, every conversation educating each other, every show of solidarity helps. The Trump administration may count on division and fatigue, but we can choose to stay centered on what matters. We cannot fall to distrust in uncertain times. We must strive for clarity. While some government officials try to use confusion to take away our care, we can refocus our attention to saving it.

 

Jackalope Labbe is a social work and history major at College of Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee, MA and a Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L).

Hispanic Heritage Gives New Life to Our Culture and Economy

Hispanic Heritage Gives New Life to Our Culture and Economy

 

This Month Reminds us of the Responsibility to Bring Culture, Faith, Community, and Resilience to Justice Work

Jonathan Alcantara
October 1, 2025

 

For Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), NETWORK’s Sr. Carol Coston Fellows share their thoughts on the importance of this observance in the U.S. The following is Part 1 of two-part reflection by Jonathan Alcantara of Marquette University. (Read Part 2.)

Jonathan Alcantara, a 2025 Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK's Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.)

Jonathan Alcantara

Hispanic Heritage Month is not just a time for us to honor our cultura with music, food, faith, and festivals. It is also a reminder of the responsibility to carry the values of our culture, our faith, our community, and our resilience into the work of justice especially in times like these. To me, this time of the year is a celebración of who we are, where we come from, and the challenges we face to help positively shape where we are going in the future.

Growing up in the metro Atlanta area, I saw my Latino heritage recognized not only during celebrations but in the everyday actions of our determination. Our family gatherings were filled with stories, delicious authentic comida mexicana, laughter that makes our stomach hurt, and the occasional chisme, but through all this there were also unmistakable examples of our families’ hard work and sacrifice.

Those experiences continue to guide and shape me as a first-generation Mexican American college student. As a student studying finance at Marquette University, a Jesuit community that emphasizes service, community, and justice, I remind myself every day that my Mexican and Latino heritage is more than just a set of traditions passed down to each generation but it’s the light, the source that pushes and strengthens us to lead with purpose, to advocate for justice, and to build stronger communities and a more just nation.

As I sit and reflect on this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month, I cannot ignore las injusticias that MY Latino community has and is currently facing in 2025. The federal government has intensified immigration enforcements to drastic measures. The recent Supreme Court ruling has opened the door to racial profiling and aggressive deportations.

As a result, the fear that Latino communities and neighborhoods that has existed for years has deepened even further. Since January, families have lived in constant anxiety and worry about raids, deportations, and having their families separated. These actions not only harm families and individuals but break trust in public institutions and weaken the connections that unite and make our community strong and resilient.

Despite this, the impact and strength of our economic contributions speak for themselves. The 2025 Latino GPD in the U.S. has recently surpassed $4 trillion, making our community one of the most powerful and largest economies in the world. Latinos have some of the highest labor participation rates, strong entrepreneurship, and growing levels of higher education. Still the inequalities continue through unfair wage gaps sometimes even with a college degree. Latina women, specifically, experience some of the most significant gaps, earning less than both white women and Latino men, while Latino men’s earnings fall short of his peers despite having equal qualifications.

Whether we are Latino, Black, Asian, or White, we all deserve to be paid fairly for our work. It matters just as much that many families, not just Latinos, rely on programs like SNAP and Head Start which are being threatened by recent federal legislature like the summer reconciliation bill, and political playbooks like Project 2025. In reality, Latinos contribute to face unfair barriers while significantly contributing to the U.S. economy. Now more than ever, there needs to be change.

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L). Read Part 2 of this reflection.

photo of San Antonio's market square, the largest Mexican market in the U.S.

Hispanic Heritage Means Resilience Against Injustice

Hispanic Heritage Means Resilience Against Injustice

 

Policies of Exclusion Inflict Lasting Mental and Physical Harm on Hispanic Communities

Taylor Demby
October 14, 2025

 

For Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), NETWORK’s Sr. Carol Coston Fellows share their thoughts on the importance of this observance in the U.S. This reflection comes from University of the Incarnate Word student Taylor Demby.

Taylor Demby, a sociology major at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas and a 2025 Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK's Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.)

Taylor Demby

Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate the richness, resilience, and many contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities across the United States. This month is especially personal to me as a San Antonian and as an ally. Having grown up in a city where Hispanic culture shapes nearly every neighborhood, classroom, and workplace, I have experienced firsthand how essential the Hispanic community is to the fabric of our daily life.

Both in and out of September, it is imperative that we take a moment to honor this cultural legacy that continues to influence every corner of American life. As we honor heritage and achievement, we cannot continue to ignore a serious concern: the rising mental health crises deeply affecting Hispanic communities, intensified by the relentless attacks and exclusionary policies that have shaped their lived experiences in this country.

Data from the CDC’s 2023 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicate a troubling trend: suicide rates among Hispanic individuals in the U.S. increased by 10 percent between 2018 and 2021, while rates for non-Hispanic White individuals declined over the same period. Behind these numbers lie the experiences of families and neighbors: each one reflecting a real human reality shaped by systemic discrimination, the emotional toll of ongoing injustice, and the daily challenges faced by a community trying to navigate a society that continues to overlook and undermine them.

I work at one of the few outpatient behavioral health facilities in San Antonio that accepts Medicaid. In my work, I encounter both the resilience of and the struggles that Hispanic families face when seeking mental health care. Many caregivers advocate fiercely for their children, yet they face barriers that others rarely encounter. Long waitlists, limited insurance coverage, lack of transportation, unforgiving work schedules, and the stigma surrounding mental health can make accessing care extraordinarily difficult. Their persistence inspires me, but it also emphasizes the urgent need for federal policies that expand Medicaid access, reduce wait times and ensure culturally competent, affordable care for all Hispanic families.

Across the country, families face the compounded effects of systemic inequities, limited access to healthcare, and the stress of navigating anti-immigrant policies. These struggles are widespread yet often hidden, reminding us that celebration alone is not enough. We must pair this recognition with meaningful action to create the change our communities need. To me, honoring Hispanic heritage means taking the time to recognize the full spectrum of experiences that shape communities.

In my home state of Texas, where heavy anti-immigrant sentiment and ultra-exclusionary policies have persisted for generations, these challenges are especially apparent. Students at my own university and across the Bexar County area are not immune to this. In San Antonio, reckless immigration policies and cuts enacted through the recent Budget Reconciliation Bill continue to disproportionately affect Hispanic families, impacting workplaces, classrooms, and homes.

These realities highlight the urgent need for culturally sensitive support, accessible care, and open dialogue about mental health and our healthcare system as a whole. By bringing these issues to the forefront, we can mobilize our communities and work to hold legislators and decision-makers accountable, ensuring that the policies introduced protect and uplift Hispanic families rather than harm them.

Hispanic Heritage Month offers advocates and allies like me a unique opportunity to pair celebration with action. Investing in the health and dignity of Hispanic families builds a stronger, more equitable future for all families, regardless of race or class. The forces driving inequity expand across race and region, hurting working people everywhere, and the solutions we fight for benefit us all.

Honoring Hispanic heritage requires confronting these uncomfortable truths: that within the great stories of strength, resilience, and perseverance live the often-unspoken realities of distress, trauma, and pain associated with inequity. We should do more than remember the past. We must contribute to culturally sensitive dialogue that affirms a principle central to my work as an advocate inspired by Catholic Social Justice teaching: human dignity. Every human being possesses inherent dignity and deserves the support to live fully and authentically, without barriers.

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L).

graphic for Hispanic Heritage Month

Hispanic Heritage Shines Brightly, Even Under Threat

Hispanic Heritage Shines Brightly, Even Under Threat

 

Our Lady of Guadalupe Means Both Vibrant Celebrations and the Need for Protection of Our Communities

Leslie Gracia
October 8, 2025

 

For Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), NETWORK’s Sr. Carol Coston Fellows share their thoughts on the importance of this observance in the U.S. This reflection comes from DePaul University student Leslie Gracia.

Leslie Gracia, student at DePaul University and 2025 Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK's Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.)

Leslie Gracia

In my experience, living in America means witnessing month-long ethnic and cultural celebrations throughout the year. As someone of Hispanic descent, I love how, from mid-September to mid-October, I see Mexican restaurants, bakeries, and street vendors selling cut-up fresh fruit, elotes, and Mexican flags.

There are street murals in vibrant shades of red, green, and orange. They display images like Our Lady of Guadalupe, a mom praying her rosary for her child who hasn’t arrived home before midnight, Frida Kahlo with monarch butterfly wings, Indigenous Mexican people, and so many other beautiful images.

Seeing Hispanic people connect through our ethnicities makes it feel like we are at home, especially in Chicago. And yet they also make me feel like I am walking down the streets of Etzatlán, Jalisco, a town I visit in Mexico because I have family there.

Our Lady of Guadalupe plays a significant role in the Catholic Mexican community, as she appeared on the outskirts of what is now considered Mexico City, up on a hill called Tepeyac in the year 1531. When I visit Etzatlán on December 12, her appearance day anniversary in Mexico, we gather at night in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which is near the plaza. We pray the rosary, sing her Las Mañanitas, and offer her roses that are blessed by the local priest.

street mural of Our Lady of GuadalupeWe eat traditional holiday foods like tamales with atole, a warm, thick corn drink flavored with guava or nuts. A view of a big, knitted figure of Our Lady of Guadalupe, almost like a mural, adorns the wall of the sanctuary. Above us in the sky, a knitted star pattern is draped from the sanctuary to another building, creating a woven ceiling. Then we move towards the plaza for the last event of the night, the castillo.

The castillo gets lit from the bottom, and the fire and beautiful bright lights escalate to the top of the structure. When the fire reaches her figure, red and white light explosions and loud whistling noises emerge from the castillo itself. It feels magical. Towards the end, our Lady of Guadalupe’s white crown begins to burn, hence the name castillo. Then it flies up into the sky. Kids run after it, not caring about the possibility of getting burned. They just want to have it.

Our Lady of Guadalupe plays an important role for immigrants. Many pray to her for protection when crossing the border. The same goes for anyone who feels unsafe, especially right now, with ICE raids targeting communities and places of employment, but mostly just anyone who looks Hispanic. No Hispanic person is safe after the Supreme Court ruled that ICE can now racially profile anyone who looks Hispanic or is speaking in their native tongue – that is, because of our Hispanic Heritage!

While Our Lady of Guadalupe has always been invoked for safety, right now I feel like everyone is coming together to pray to her and ask for protection. Hispanic Heritage Month is usually a time for celebrating as a community. We forget the racism we encounter every day and throw street parties, unapologetically and loudly playing our Spanish music. But this year it has turned into a month of fear and hiding, of staying alert so that fewer families get separated. Our community bonds remain strong.

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L).

Image source: Wikimedia Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike International 4.0. license. Image cropped for this post and adapted into the featured image graphic.

Hispanic Heritage Promotes Democracy and Dignity

Hispanic Heritage Promotes Democracy and Dignity

 

My Responsibility is to Help Build a Future Where We All Have a Share in the Decisions That Shape Our Destiny

Jonathan Alcantara
October 6, 2025

 

For Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), NETWORK’s Sr. Carol Coston Fellows share their thoughts on the importance of this observance in the U.S. The following is Part 2 of a two-part reflection by Jonathan Alcantara of Marquette University. (Read Part 1.)

Jonathan Alcantara, a 2025 Sr. Carol Coston Fellow in NETWORK's Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.)

Jonathan Alcantara

In addition to undeniable economic and cultural contributions, the Latino community also participates powerfully in the democratic process. In particular, young Latinos are the fastest-growing demographic of voters, and our voices will shape the future elections. However, targeted voter suppression tactics like disinformation and misinformation, lack of access to absentee ballots, limited early voting, and bans on students using their school IDs at the polls continue to create barriers for young Latino voters.

So, over the past two years, I’ve served as a Sr. Carol Coston Fellow, working with other students and young adults in Wisconsin and across the country to foster a safe environment for civic engagement and support voter registration on our campuses. All of the meaningful conversations I’ve had with my peers on campus and with community leaders show and remind me that our democracy is stronger when we all participate and a lot weaker when we’re separated and pushed out.

Despite the inequalities, political tensions, and fearmongering, our lucha and resilience still define us. Across the nation this month, Latino communities are finding ways to gather and celebrate their heritage while navigating their fears. In cities like Chicago, Madison, and Appleton, Wisconsin, festivals celebrate with live music, dances, and traditional food. They also have workshops and representatives talking about healthcare, business inclusion, and professional leadership.

However, many events have scaled back and have even been postponed because of the possibility of immigration raids, but one thing’s for certain, seguimos unidos y en solidaridad, no matter the obstacles. Our culture is still alive not only in the happy moments but also in times when we must pivot, adapt, and continue showing up for one another through advocacy.

What ties all of this together is the set of values that go with the Latino community. We strongly believe in familia, dignidad, and oportunidad, which are values that anyone, regardless of their background and what they look like, can recognize as important. My Catholic faith reminds me that these are more than just cultural values; they are moral truths: that every person is made in the Imago Dei and deserves respect, freedom, and the chance to grow and thrive, no exceptions. In our faith, we say, cada persona es hijo de Dios, every person is a child of God. And that truth calls us to treat every person with the same dignity and respect.

Looking ahead, I see a hopeful future where our cultura is not only honored by others but fully integrated into the story of this country. A future where Latino students, like me, succeed in college without the barriers that are currently holding us back, where workers earn livable wages that match their contributions to our country, where families can live without the fear of leaving their house for five minutes, and where our voices are fully recognized in the public.

This vision is attainable, and this is why Hispanic Heritage Month matters. Is it about honoring culture? Yes. But it’s also about defending human dignity, expanding and growing economic opportunity, and strengthening our democracy. For me, Hispanic Heritage Month is both personal and shared. This month calls me to remember the resilience of those who came before me and to act with the knowledge of my responsibility for those who will come after me.

This month, I celebrate my heritage not only by remembering the past but by helping build a future where every family, Latino or not, can live, work, and thrive con fe, esperanza y orgullo, no exceptions.

Learn more about NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L).