Midtown Alum Arranges $5,000 Donation Through Business Group
Jose Contreras Talks About His History with Midtown, Co-Founding a Business Relationship Group, and About the Importance of Giving Back.
Jose Contreras stands in front of the entrance to Midtown Center for boys in the Bucktown Neighborhood of Chicago.
In December 2020, MEF received a surprise donation in the form of a $5,000 check presented by Jose Contreras, an alumnus of Midtown Center for boys. Jose had arranged the donation through a business relationship group (Unidos) that he helped to found at his company, Jackson National Asset Management. This is a great example of how our alums can pay it forward to the next generation of students at Midtown and Metro.
Jose was 10 years old when he began his journey with Midtown. An inner-city kid in the working-class neighborhood of Gage Park, Jose grew up with a lack of quality educational resources. He recalls not wanting to join the Midtown programs at first; it was his mother’s idea to sign him up. Looking back he says that joining Midtown was one of the best decisions of his life. The impact of learning about virtues and how to develop a strong character from his Midtown mentors turned him from a kid who aimed for mediocre to a man who strives to be the best version of himself. He says, “Learning these character virtues helped me overall become a better person.”
“It feels good to give back especially when you were in a similar situation when you were younger”
Jose is also grateful for the academic support he received at Midtown. Midtown’s programs helped set him up for success in applying and be accepted to Walter Payton Colleg Prep in Chicago and later to the University of Iowa. After graduating from the University of Iowa with a degree in finance, Jose moved back to Chicago. He quickly got in touch with the Midtown Center Director to find out how he could volunteer. Today he teaches and mentors in the same classrooms he used to sit in as a student. He often tells his students who are struggling to not get discouraged because he knows they can go far and wants to see them succeed.
Watch a clip from our interview with Jose.
Jose currently works as a hedge fund accountant for Jackson National Asset Management, where earlier in 2020, he started a business relationship group with a colleague titled Unidos. “We created [Unidos] to empower the Latinx employee to grow professionally, said Contreras. “We aim to give back to the community and to create an awareness of the power of diversity in the workplace, especially in the private sector where there are not many Latinos in the workforce.” Jose attributes the biggest reason for the lack of diversity in the workplace to a lack of resources for minority students. It was not too long ago that he was one of these students, and he knows how much of a difference the donations made to Midtown helped him out. He says he was able to access tutors, go on college tours, and have a better computer thanks to the generosity of donors. He truly sees himself in the kids that attend the MEF programs today and says, “It feels good to give back especially when you were in a similar situation when you were younger.”
We are so grateful to everyone that supports MEF, but it is extra special to see our work come full circle when our alums grow up and give back to the organization as adults. Thank you to Jose Contreras and all of our Midtown & Metro alumni supporters. For more information on how you or your organization can give back to your community by becoming a financial supporter or volunteer for MEF, visit