Nieves' work in Latino community is 'groundbreaking'

While most students are in class on Tuesday afternoons, College senior Christine Nieves is busy hosting her own show on Telemundo.

The public affairs show, called “En Portada” — meaning “on the front cover” in Spanish — is part of local Telemundo programming broadcast to Philadelphia’s Latino community. It works to spread issue-based knowledge through social resources, such as information on college scholarships and financial aid.

“She is in many ways the face of social resources for Latinos in Philadelphia,” said Wharton and Nursing junior G.J. Melendez, who is in CIPACTLI Honor Society — a Latino honor society — with Nieves.

In her work on “En Portada,” Nieves combines the two worlds of academia and community issues.

“She is committed to seeing a successful cross-pollination of academic and practitioner engagement that will ultimately create better lives for those who are most in need,” Annenberg School of Communication Dean Michael Delli Carpini said, “and stronger communities for all of us.”

In addition to hosting “En Portada,” Nieves has also worked with Telemundo to develop a show aimed at children “that would hopefully change behaviors,” she said, “countering negative Latino stereotypes.”

Nieves said working at the station has given her “the opportunity to understand the industry” and the ability to see “the value that television can get from academia.”

But Nieves isn’t the only one who gained from her work there.

Clara Rivas, the general manager for Philadelphia’s Telemundo affiliate, gave Nieves high praise, calling her “the future of the Latino community.”

Likewise, Melendez called her work with Telemundo “groundbreaking,” attributing Nieves’ strength as a communicator to “her abiding and very deep sense of compassion.”

And La Casa Latina director Johnny Irizarry said “her kindness and her intelligence” both aid her ability to communicate with her audience.

Nieves, who is studying communication and public service, was born in a small village called Croughton in Oxfordshire, U.K. She has spent most of her life growing up in Puerto Rico, where she said she “never thought about the issue of race.”

Still, Nieves has stressed a “multicultural approach” to her work.

But above it all, she said winning a leadership award during her senior year of high school from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation was pivotal in guiding her toward work aiding the Latino community.

Nieves’ community organizing extends to the Penn community as well, where she is also on the Undergraduate Advisory Board for the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and a Residential Advisor and coordinator for Fisher-Hassenfeld College House’s Goldberg Communication and Media residential program.

Nieves is both an advocate and a communicator, according to Irizarry.

Although Nieves collaborates with Latino Coalition for certain projects, both Nieves and Irizarry agree that her work is outside of the group’s scope. Christine has worked on “building a relationship with the surrounding Latino community,” said Irizarry.

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