“I’ve seen people who used to have so much and now have very little or nothing, homelessness doesn’t discriminate, it impacts and affects families from all origins,” Luis Alberto Chavez Hernandez describes homelessness from his experience as the homeless education liaison for St. Vrain Valley School District.
Chavez Hernandez has served inSVVSD since the early 1990s as a bilingual teachers’ aid, an English as a second language tutor, a translator, an interpreter, a soccer coach and a special education teacher. His path to get there started out rough but he found that with the support of those around him, he was able to fulfill his dreams.
Skyline high school soccer team which Chavez Hernandez helped coach. By courtesy photo
A native from Torreon, Coahulia, he moved to the United States in 1990 with no legal paperwork nor command of the English language, he said. In Dallas, Texas, he worked a few years in an auto mechanic shop and did construction work with no clear sense of what the future might hold.
While uncertainty lingered for a while, Chavez Hernandez found inspiration and encouragement from his mother, father and his childhood soccer coach – all who taught him the importance of leaving a mark in the lives of youth.
“My biggest inspiration while in Mexico was my mother –who just passed away because of COVID. She was always a very resilient, hard working mother who believed in us and pushed us to meet potential,” he said. “Coming to the U.S., she was always encouraging and tried to get me to (seize) challenges and opportunities being in a new place, with a new language, to deal with the shock of not knowing what was going to happen,” Chavez Hernandez said.
In Mexico, Chavez Hernandez completed several semesters of university education in accounting at the Technológico de Monterrey, however, his degree did not translate into an equivalent career in this country, he said. When he moved to Colorado, he had to forge a new career from scratch.
“I started moving around and making my own way, people started inviting me to work on things in education, substance abuse prevention, and others, while I was learning English,” he said. “I did all kinds of things. I worked as a director of a soccer club in town and a property manager for Casa de la Esperanza with Boulder County Housing Authority … and in 1997 I was offered to be in a cohort to go through the University of Colorado’s BUENO Center (for Multicultural Education) to get a degree in education.”
He enrolled at the Front Range Community College in Ft. Lupton for an associates degree of arts and ultimately obtained a bachelor’s degree in behavioral sciences with a minor in special education from Metropolitan State University. From there he sought and received a Colorado teaching license, allowing him to become a bilingual special education teacher at Frederick Elementary.
(left) Sons Jovanni, Gabriel, Josue and Diego with wife Francis and Luis at their home. By courtesy photo
“By the time I was going through my degree and working, I was trying to raise my children, trying to be a dad and a husband, learning English, it was amazing… I never stopped working with the district,” he said. “My executive director at the special education department brought me and my wife to the office and had a serious conversation where she said ‘if you're serious about this (your career), you need to go to college full time and get your bachelor’s degree,’ so we committed to this,” Chavez Hernandez said.
For the next three years, Chavez Hernandez worked side jobs while studying full time.
“My wife has always been a real strong advocate for me. She encouraged me to learn the language and she saw the potential even when not knowing what would be out there for me… at one point she was the breadwinner providing for my family for me to get my professional career,” he said.
Luis Alberto Chavez Hernandez and his wife Francis. By courtesy photo
After a few years of special education work, Chavez Hernandez stepped into his current role as the homeless education liaison for SVVSD in 2011 and found a true passion and motivation for serving youth with some of the most dire needs, , he said.
“I get out of bed because I love what I do, I get out of bed because I look forward to making a difference in people’s lives,” said Chavez Hernandez in a video posted by SVVSD on its twitter account.
Through this program, families and children experiencing homelessness are offered choices and resources to remain in school and to increase access, stability and education success, according to the SVVSD website.
“We partner up with every agency possible in the community and outside of the community, including McKinney-Vento –the National Center for Homeless Education. My inclination is to connect people with anybody and everybody that can help, offer them resources, services, and products, tangible and intangible, whatever we can offer to families who are dealing with the crisis of homelessness,” he said.
Chavez Hernandez recognizes the district has played a role not only in supporting the families he works with on a daily basis and over the years, but his own.
“I call myself a product of St. Vrain Valley. I learned the language through this process and got my degree thanks to the support and encouragement of so many people, who continue to be supportive,” he said. “We consider ourselves a strong village, we know each other and know we need to collaborate and have the best practices in place… we cannot do it alone.”
“The sky is the limit to go as far as you want to go, whether you are documented or undocumented, with a positive mind and a growth mind set,” he said, adding the American dream is still alive.
“It all often starts at home with parents who believe in you. Find a way to believe in yourself and what you want to accomplish… enjoying the fact of being in such a beautiful country with so many opportunities and so many people who mean well for other people to become who they want to become,” Chavez Hernandez said.
