Ashoka Fellow Reyna Montoya
Ashoka Fellow din 2024   |   United States

Reyna Montoya

Aliento
Reyna is unlocking the changemaking potential of the fastest growing demographic in the United States – Latine youth – via a new model that cultivates community resilience and skilled leadership for…
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This description of Reyna Montoya's work was prepared when Reyna Montoya was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2024.

Introduction

Reyna is unlocking the changemaking potential of the fastest growing demographic in the United States – Latine youth – via a new model that cultivates community resilience and skilled leadership for undocumented and mixed-immigration status young people.

The New Idea

Reyna Montoya founded Aliento to do something new and transformative: take a rapidly growing but deeply vulnerable population of undocumented young people and turn their shared trauma into bold changemaking action. The organization is home to the largest youth-led movement invested in theRead more

The Problem

The immigrant experience in this country has always been fraught – but remains particularly difficult for undocumented and Latine communities, especially in this moment. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, there has been a sharp increase in anti-immigrant rhetoric and calls fromRead more

The Strategy

Reyna’s strategy is to build a self-sustaining movement of young people currently limited by their immigration status into the very change agents who can improve the immigrant experience in the United States. By giving young people tools to become the protagonists and strategists of their ownRead more

The Person

Reyna grew up in Tijuana as the first-born of young parents. When Reyna was nine years old, her father was kidnapped by the Mexican police, which resulted in her family's abrupt move to Nogales, another border town, and shortly thereafter, her father’s solo migration to Arizona. At the time, ReynaRead more