Summer Bridge Spotlight: Nathalie Martinez

Meet Nathalie Martinez, one of six participants selected for the 2026 Summer Bridge program. A Ph.D. student in anthropology at U of I, she worked with First Followers.

How have you applied your humanistic training to advance the mission of the community organization?

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At the start of every staff meeting, Founder and Executive Director of First Followers Dr. Marlon Mitchell asks a member of the staff to recite the mission of First Followers by heart. Between furrowed eyebrows and some short glances at the mission statement posted at the center of the room, they state: “To build strong and peaceful communities by providing support, guidance and hope to formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones through peer mentorship.”

This summer, I have had the privilege of serving as an intern with First Followers. In support of their mission, I have been dedicated to supporting two projects: 1) Researching the intersections of the carceral and detention/deportation systems with a focus on the lived impacts on families and 2) Evaluate the fitness of RedCAP as a web application to track organizational projects and tasks. 

For the first project, my supervisors and I decided that I would do interviews with the staff members on their experiences and how it tied to their work with First Followers. Crucial to doing this work and working with the organization was building my relationship with the team and staff members. Between laughing at the end of staff meetings and chatting at community events, we got to know one another and build trust that was foundational for them to share their story with me. My humanist training guided this work of establishing trust that continued through an ethic of care for our conversations before and after individual interviews. This included introducing them to the kinds of themes and topics I would ask, making them aware that they didn’t need to answer every question, showing them how I was caring for any recordings or notes I was taking, asking them if they had any “post-interview care” practices I could support them with, and checking-in after their interview to also share the recordings with them. The goal of this work is to support First Followers in their coalitional policy work with other organizations working directly with immigrant and displaced communities. 

With respect to the second project, I began by doing my own preliminary research on RedCAP and then collaborated with one of the staff members who had used the program. My humanist training in community-engaged and collaborative research approaches informed how we could effectively craft surveys with other staff members and clients to construct surveys to support case management. Together we crafted a vision for how we could apply it to the work First Followers does through doing continued support and guidance to their clients. 

How has this experience contributed to your career development? What skills have you gained or developed?

Working with First Followers has been instrumental in helping me rethink my pedagogical approaches as an instructor (and potentially future professor) and in considering alternative career paths in the non-profit sector. 

Within the realm of pedagogy, it highlighted the direct impacts of structural inequities we discuss in the field of anthropology in the communities that directly surround the university—realities that are often completely disconnected from the purview of students. This experience also elevated the importance of relationship building within the context of research. It further supported my commitments to discussing ethics in the classroom as it relates to working alongside and collaborating with community members and non-profit organizations. This is particularly true for First Followers who have had negative experiences with researchers who have come to conduct research and left without a trace.

As I also consider career paths outside of academia, I have seen how I could apply my research skills such as conducting interviews and creating literature reviews to support non-profit organizations. This work actively supports constructing and advocating for policies at local, state, and national levels. I have also gotten on the ground experience on the efforts of re-entry and how an effective non-profit organization such as First Followers stays rooted in their mission by continuing to show up and doing exactly what they say they are going to do for their clients and community members. 

From this experience I have also learned how to use and construct surveys on RedCAP which will potentially serve not only future research endeavors but are also skills I can share with other organizations. I have also further developed my listening skills conducting interviews and learning from my colleagues on the First Followers team. 

What have you learned from working with this community organization?

From this experience with First Followers, I have learned about the multifaceted work of re-entry and the meaningful impact that this organization has and continues to make with a team that is deeply committed to their community and the power of their work. With staff who have a personal stake in the work as formerly incarcerated folks or who have family members who have been formerly incarcerated, they each deeply recognize the value and importance of the work they do each day inside and outside of the office. 

My time with First Followers has also re-emphasized the gap that exists between the theories and lectures of the university and the lived experiences of community members who are not only experts in determining how to meet structural needs and inequities, but also our very own neighbors. This summer the spaces of learning were: the First Followers office as we learned about housing policies here in Champaign-Urbana; the Capitol in Springfield as I witnessed organizations from across Illinois going door to door with legislators to ensure their support in funding initiatives such as Home for Good and Access to Justice; and public spaces such as King Park in Urbana where First Followers continuously shows up for their community to build connections and cultivate spaces for Black joy with the annual celebration of Jettie Rhodes—a dedicated leader for the Black communities of Champaign-Urbana.  

If anything, this experience has shown me how much more I have left to learn about the meaning and ongoing effort of the abolitionist and carceral justice movement. It highlighted the ongoing gap between the theory of the classroom and actual praxis of being “boots on the ground,” as we often say in the office.
 

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your Summer Bridge program experience?

It's difficult to think about the “end” of this program. Throughout this experience, we’ve shared meals, joys, and stories that have connected us beyond an 8-week experience. Working with First Followers has been a gift and I am grateful for all that I have learned with them and will continue to learn from them. These are seeds of relationality we began to plant together, and I hope will continue to grow just as the broccoli, okra, sunflowers, beans, watermelons, and various kinds of tomatoes grow from the First Followers community garden (attached below to see and listen). 
The Summer Bridge program has affirmed my belief in the need for programs such as these. It also elevates the role HRI plays in building these bridges and setting an example to students and administrators on the need to see our impact as scholars and as a university beyond academic journals and institutional recognitions. 
Although this program is near an end, my own commitments aren’t done yet. I leave this program with a stronger sense of responsibility to the relationships I have built and to my mission of doing work that is driven by care, relationality, and respect. 

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