Moraine Valley graduate , president and chief executive officer of Instituto del Progresso Latino, didn鈥檛 know what to think when he picked up his phone on Sept. 8, and heard someone ask, 鈥淎re you alone?鈥� Since his meeting was ending anyway, he indulged the mysterious caller, who agreed to wait until he had left the meeting.
The call came from the MacArthur Foundation to alert Salgado he had been selected as one of the newest 24 MacArthur Fellows, a prestigious award that comes with a $625,000 no-strings-attached grant. The Foundation is one of the nation鈥檚 largest independent foundations that supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a better world. Salgado was allowed to share the news about his fellowship with only one other person, who also had to keep the secret until the foundation announced the winners in late September.
Salgado told his wife, Leticia, who responded exactly the way he thought she would. She told him this was going to make him even crazier than he already was. He agreed that he was already spinning and waking up in the early morning hours to think about it.
鈥淚 was shocked. I didn鈥檛 know what to say. I was just listening, and they kept asking me, 鈥楢re you there?鈥� Yeah, I鈥檓 here. Is this real?鈥� Salgado said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been quite an adventure. I鈥檝e had to do all kinds of things without anyone knowing what鈥檚 going on. In some ways, it鈥檚 kind of fun.鈥�
In 2013, Salgado won the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Moraine Valley and the Illinois Community College Trustees Association. He also was the featured speaker at that year鈥檚 commencement ceremony. He earned an Associate of Science degree from Moraine Valley in 1989 and dedicated his career to the nonprofit and social service sector. He became the leader of Instituto in 2001, growing the organization into a flourishing educational center that provides high-quality programs in workforce development, adult education, youth development and education, and citizenship to thousands of Chicagoans annually.
He has established nationally recognized best-practice educational and workforce models and was a White House Champion of Change for Social Innovation in 2011. Salgado believes education provides the power and freedom people need for a better quality of life for their families, thus Instituto鈥檚 motto is 鈥淓ducation is power.鈥�
鈥淲inning this award is certainly a validation of our work and our impact. It speaks to not just the service we provide but the change we鈥檝e been creating. It demonstrates that our strategy is working. We鈥檙e about doing things locally but having an impact on systems. So, it鈥檚 just not good enough to serve people knowing the system at large doesn鈥檛 do it very well. As you prove things can get done in better ways, we have to push the larger systems to adopt and become more of what we do. And so that is happening. We are a local organization that can honestly say has a national impact,鈥� Salgado said.
When asked what he planned to do with the $625,000 (it鈥檚 doled out to him every quarter over five years), he said it was something he hasn鈥檛 quite figured out yet. He can use the resources however he wants. He is completely uninhibited so he can take something and make it even bigger.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not even the money. It鈥檚 never the money. It鈥檚 the ideas. It鈥檚 always the spirit. Always the drive and commitment and belief. It requires money, but without all of those things in front of it, money doesn鈥檛 get you anywhere,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e run this organization multiple times without any money, but we had a lot of ideas. Lots of good ideas with good people. It doesn鈥檛 take a genius to figure out that is going to work.鈥�
However Salgado decides to spend the grant, he knows the community will be better off for it. 鈥淭his resource is going to help, and that鈥檚 the reality. This is a motivation for me, a turning point for me. I鈥檓 going to use this as a catalyst to come up with the right things and places to invest. As a result of this recognition, my city is going to be a better city,鈥� he said.
