Most Recent MVP

The employees of Hope for Miami selected Francheska Montilla as the agency’s MVP last month. She was surprised by the announcement, saying, “I’m out of the office in the classroom so often, I didn’t think anyone noticed what I was doing.”

Francheska has been doing a lot as a Health Educator with our Project U-Turn (PUT) program for the last few years. She has memories of her teen years when she wanted adults to listen to her concerns about growing up, so she is reminded to provide a safe and judgment-free zone for the youth in her classroom and build trust with her students, who frequently come to her after class to share their stories. After one classroom lesson about friendship and being kind to others, she had two students approach her to say that one of them had been bullied at a previous school. Francheska was able to refer that student to the school counselor for some extra help. Another student told her about a challenge she was having with a friend; Francheska reminded her about the “tools” for relationships that PUT teaches in class, and that student was able to improve her friendship. 

What’s a dream for Francheska? Because she has previous experience in the music industry, she would love to see more creativity in the programming we bring to youth. “Skits, videos,  scripts, and music would be great, because the youth love to express themselves and we need to allow them to voice their feelings.” 

Thank you, Francheska, for being the safe adult that teens want to talk to!