From her early days as a social worker in Chicago to, more recently, the Director of Community Outreach for the Museum, Leah Oppenheimer has spent most of her life working with the underserved. We recently spoke with Leah about her background, her outreach efforts with the East End’s Latino population, and her ever expanding role at the Museum.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
I went to the University of Chicago for social work. They University really encouraged students to pursue a broad education and I think that served me really well. One of my first counseling clients—when I was young girl at 22—was a depressed woman who was agoraphobic. She had come to Chicago as a child during the Great Migration. We just sat and talked about her history and relived her childhood and she started to get much better. I think I was the first person to sit down and just listen to her. I have this quality of being able to walk in other people’s shoes. Somebody recently told me that they were watching me do empathy studies and called me a shapeshifter. It’s a great skill.
When did your outreach on the East End start?
I moved out to the East End in 1995. We needed another bedroom because I wanted to have another kid. I moved out here, went to the schools and it became home. What really motivated was that I saw the Latino population increase exponentially from 2000 – 2010 and felt they were having difficulty entering into the culture. Some of the family resources that were available to strong English speakers were not available to our new Latino immigrant families. Plus, many of our local services are prohibitively expensive.
How did you get involved with the Museum?
I was teaching an early childhood music program and thought if we had this for Spanish-speaking families, we could make a difference…but they couldn’t afford it. So, I went to Steve Long, the Museum’s president, and asked if we could have a room. Of course he said, “Yes.” That’s how Cantemos started in 2010. Initially, it was just music and the parents and kids. Then we got a little money from funders and started handing out books. Then we started encouraging the parents to tell us what they wanted and needed.
As a group, they got up the courage to ask us for more hands-on art. At first, that just meant expanding Cantemos to include an art project…almost like a tiny little pre-school program. As the kids got older, the parents asked for an after school program and that became Ciencia, our family science program. We’re starting extensions of that—now called “Science Connections”—at Project Most in East Hampton and the Flanders Community Center.
Are there any new programs you’re working on?
We’re exploring ways to empower Latino kids as they get older in the school systems. Aima Raza, one of the Museum’s Board members is helping us develop leadership training for families. Aima has worked for several human rights organizations and has even started her own nonprofit called the Peace Project. My vision is for all the kids we work with to have an equal chance at college. One mother told me that she didn’t use to have dreams for her daughter, but because of the programs here, she has dreams that her girl can become a professional one day.