Community Advocate Alex Ramon Chosen as Congressman García’s Virtual Guest for 2022 State of the Union Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García (IL-04) announced community advocate Alex Ramon will be his virtual guest at President Biden's State of the Union Address on March 1st, 2022.

Several years ago, Alex was an innocent victim of gun violence when he was caught in the middle of gang crossfire. With support and mentorship from the Little Village community, Alex persevered, graduating high school in 2020.

Alex's father passed away when he was a child, leaving his mother to raise him and his older brother. When Alex's mother tragically passed away in 2021 and his brother was laid off during the pandemic, Alex looked for work and found a full-time job with Pan de Vida, a food pantry that serves Little Village, where he is now Associate Director of Operations. Despite the added financial burden of the pandemic, Pan de Vida retained employees like Alex thanks to support from the Paycheck Protection Program, which in turn allowed Alex to help keep his family afloat.

"Alex's story is an example of resilience and the power of community support. The public health and economic crises of the past two years have exacerbated existing inequities—and these burdens have fallen disproportionately on young people. Investing in our future means investing in young people and promoting economic justice, and I introduced the Connecting Youth to Jobs Act to guarantee living-wage job opportunities so young people like Alex who face barriers to employment can get off to the right start," said Congressman García.

"What I like the most about the work I do is giving back to the people from Little Village and surrounding communities of Chicago. I enjoy having small conversations with neighbors and people from Little Village throughout the food distribution. It lifts me up through hard and tough times," said Alex Ramon. "The support I have received from Pan de Vida was huge throughout this whole pandemic, and being able to witness firsthand how much people from Little Village and from the city needed help and resources has really opened my eyes and I want to continue helping bring resources to my community and city. One thing I would share with young people is to never rush something and to always work hard even when the odds are stacked against you."

To learn more about Alex Ramon and Pan de Vida's story, click here.

For background information on the Connecting Youth to Jobs Act, click here.

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