Lenore Sobota
The Pantagraph
Even as a young man attending Illinois Wesleyan University, Juan Salgado impressed those around him as someone who was passionate about helping others.
That passion led the 1991 IWU graduate to found Instituto del Progresso Latino in Chicago in 2001 and to him being named one of 24 MacArthur Fellows for 2015. Each fellow receives $625,000 — popularly known as the “genius” grant.
Instituto operates a number of programs, including schools and employment training, for Latino immigrants and their families.
Salgado sees his selection as a “tremendous opportunity” to make more people aware of what Instituto does. He said Tuesday his “big hope” is that Instituto's ideas “will be followed by others. What can happen in Chicago in a vibrant immigrant community can happen elsewhere.”
Although the MacArthur grant is an individual award, Salgado referred to the “amazing team” at Instituto, calling them “educational scientists” who work “to get results that haven't been gotten before” — such as taking people with low literacy and preparing them for college.
His references to his “team” reflect the attitude of a person several people who knew Salgado at IWU, describing him as humble, modest and caring.
Mike Seeborg, Robert S. Eckley Distinguished Professor of Economics at IWU, said, “Even as an economics student, he wanted to get back and help his community. … He's got this heart of gold.”
Seeborg has taken students to Chicago to see how Salgado's programs work.
“Juan has been able to create things in the community that really make a difference,” Seeborg said.
Salgado credited his parents, Carmen Maldonado and Daniel Salgado, with inspiring him to help others.
“My mom instilled in us amazing values,” he said. “She believed in listening to what was shared on Sunday in church and working all week long to live it.”
His father, a steelworker, “was very involved in the community” and raised money for scholarships.
“You're motivated by what you see and what you don't see,” Salgado said.
Working as a caterer, one of many jobs he held in his youth, Salgado said he saw many upscale homes and places far different from those of many immigrant families and those he saw on visits with his family to Mexico.
He wrestled with those differences and the “need to have hope and opportunity, the need to have upward mobility.”
He thanked his professors at IWU, saying, “They prodded me to wrestle with it more. They cared enough to prod me.”
In 2013, Salgado spoke at IWU's commencement and was presented with an honorary doctor of humane letters degree.
President Dick Wilson recalled that Salgado told students to “do what stirs your spirit and soul” and “don't choose a path, make your own. And he has certainly done that.”
Lonnie Smith, a public affairs manager for State Farm, worked closely with Salgado on the Council for Latin American Student Enrichment when both were IWU students.
Describing Salgado as a mentor, Smith said, “He was collaborative by nature. Always looking for win-win solutions.”
Smith recalled a well-known quote from Minor Myers Jr., who was IWU president when he and Salgado were students there: "Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
“Juan embodies that,” Smith said.