Lucy Gellman Photos
Magdalena Rosales-Alban is the chief executive officer of Lulac Head Start, a family and childcare development center that annually serves 188 children between six months and five years of age across New Haven. Started out of the basement of a church, the center now has three locations, two of which Rosales-Alban has been responsible for: its Cedar Street home, as well as satellites on James and Ramsdell Streets.
But there’s more to the story of what motivated her to get into childcare development. Rosales-Alban (pictured) is an immigrant from Cuenca, Ecuador, having come to the United States when she was 28 and ready to try out a new career in an equally new country. Her path has not always been easy, she’ll be quick to say if you ask, but there’s little she would change about it.
To tell that story — a story wrapped in a story wrapped in another story — she appeared as a guest in the WNHH studio, where she joined Norma Rodriguez-Reyes, publisher of La Voz Hispana, and Janic Maysonet, former La Voz intern and Lulac’s community partnership manager, for the latest episode of “K Pasa” on WNHH radio. There, she spoke about what it’s like to be the head of Lulac, which was recently recognized by the White House as one of the state’s three “bright spots” in early childhood education, as well as what her journey to the United Staes was like. An excerpt of their interview is below.
Rodriguez-Reyes: Tell me first, before we get into Lulac Head Start, when did you come from Ecuador, where did you come to, and why did you come?
Rosales-Alban: I came to Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1996. I’m close to being 20 years in the United States. I came because my husband had an opportunity of employment and I decided to follow him. My three children and I, we moved, and the first city we moved to … was Waterbury. My first job was as a parent involvement in Waterbury. With the years passing by, I’d really fallen in love with Head Start philosophy, so I decided that I would work for a program that had head start help and head start philosophy. I had the opportunity to come to New Haven … I’ve worked in New Haven around 11 years now, and I just, definitely, have fallen in love with the New Haven community … the people who really work very hard and they deserve to have the best opportunities that we can offer them.
Rodriguez-Reyes: What was it like, leaving your Cuenca, Ecuador, and coming to Waterbury?
Rosales-Alban: It was very, very, very surprising. I really think that … I have a different story from others, but when I came I had been reading books and magazines about how beautiful the United States is. When I came to Waterbury and I learned little by little that there was a lot of need, then I decided that’s the place that I wanted to be. It was very different — yes, Ecuador is a poor country … but it is a different type of poverty. There’s not a lot of money but there is a lot of family strength, and there is a lot of sense of community … that’s what really surprised me. I had in my mind and in my dreams that it was really going to be the land of the dreams, but I realized that there was a lot of need, emotional need … all those things.
Rodriguez-Reyes: When you came here, who were the wind beneath your wings? Who were the people that helped you make it here?
Rosales-Alban: It was really the company that my husband was contracted … The first family that we met was a family from Dominican Republic, and we met them because I had to bring my children to the bus. So for the first two months I really kind of wandered around with my dictionary under the arm, I tried to figure out where I was while my husband started working like two days after we got here.
Rodriguez-Reyes: How old were your kids when you came here?
Rosales-Alban: Juliana was 12, Wilson was 9 and Xavier was 8.
Rodriguez-Reyes: How was the transition for them?
Rosales-Alban: Sad. It was difficult. It was very difficult. At the beginning we were saying that we were going to see Micky Mouse, that we were going to meet Micky Mouse … that’s what we were looking for. I was a very young mother — I had my first baby when I was 17, so I really know all the things that families go through.
Rodriguez-Reyes: Did your kids get to graduate from high school in Waterbury?
Rosales-Alban: They did, the three of them. They were very successful. At that time, the Board of Education, they created a program called the S.O.A.R. Program … that was an advanced program for students. So … I’m very happy and very lucky that they were able to take that opportunity.
Rodriguez-Reyes: Tell us a little bit about Lulac.
Rosales-Alban: Lulac is a place where families come every day with joy knowing that they will be welcome, knowing that their children will be taken care of, and especially that we have a lot to share with them … especially love, attention; anything that a human being really needs in order continue their life regardless of the difficulty they have. It’s very easy for me to describe Lulac and say, “Lulac Head Start is a nonprofit agency and we provide child development services” … but I really believe that we are more than that. I really do believe that we are the family that really embraces other families, and that we are able to see during these years growth in the community … for me it’s an honor to work there. It really is an honor to serve the New Haven community in the way that we do.
Maysonet, a self-described product of Lulac, added to the conversation, speaking candidly about what the organization has meant for him:
“Lulac — it’s that very place where it’s in the name,” he said. “It’s a Head Start, right? What it provided for me was a head start in my education. Although I was born and raised in New Haven, my first language was Spanish, and the transition to learn English began at Lulac. It’s really giving an opportunity to the less fortunate or, you might not even be less fortunate … it’s an opportunity for you to get a step ahead in your education.”
“I don’t work a single day because I love what I do,” Rosales-Alban added as the interview ended, confirming Maysonet’s statement. “It’s not a job to me.”
This interview is part of WNHH-LP’s “Open For Business” series on immigrant business owners and leaders in the nonprofit community. “Open for Business is sponsored by Frontier Communications. Frontier is proud to be Connecticut’s hometown provider of TV and internet for your home and business. Their phone number is 1.888.Frontier and their website is Frontier.com
