About our Team

Jackie Rodriguez is a cultural worker, musician, and educator. She is Mexicana, a daughter of immigrants,  and proud-to-be raised by a single mom in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. A neighborhood that has laid the foundation of her spirit and identity. Since 2004, she has been a part of various student and community organizations that center their work around Zapatismo, Latine cultural arts, immigration, and various social movements in Latin America. She is a part of the son jarocho collective, called Jarochicanos.  Collectively performing, teaching, and building community through this music for the past 16 years in Chicago in various projects. These projects include, Son Chiquitos, Jarana All Stars, Talleres en la 18, Xikago Jarana Kids, Convivio Camp, La escuelita del barrio, and Son y Arte summer camp. She is passionate about culturally relevant pedagogy and integrating the arts with the construction of knowledge. In 2009, she started her educator career integrating history with various artistic expressions and mediums with youth in Pilsen. She joined Rudy Lozano Leadership Academy, an alternative high school that provides second chance opportunities to students and is rooted in education for liberation and social justice curriculum. She teaches at Benito Juarez Community Academy where she was a Social Studies teacher and Social Studies department chair. Currently at Juarez, she is the lead teacher  for their new Teaching Academy, preparing future generations of educators. She has helped to co- found MECA (Movimiento para la educación cultural y autónoma) building culturally relevant curriculum and supporting educators in traditional and non-traditional settings to create dynamic experiences for BIPOC children, families,  and youth. All of her work for over 20 years has led her to dive in and co- found a cultural center in the Pilsen community called 18th Street Casa de Cultura. She holds a BA in the Teaching of History, Anthropology, and a Masters in Youth Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago.