About Victor and Erika

The Victor and Erika project of Adelante, an educational entertainment series, engages Latino youth in the expression of their stories and shares messages about issues that many of them face.  Adelante, a positive youth development program, is a partnership between the Avance Center for the Advancement of Immigrant/Refugee Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, and  the Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers.  The Victor and Erika project is part of a larger public health branding/messaging strategy being undertaken within the Adelante program. 

The Story of Victor and Erika is a dramatic portrayal of the struggles, failures, successes, and humanity of Latino youth. It is an entertaining, dramatic story that also provides information on strategies for overcoming challenges by showing them characters with whom youth can identify.  Victor and Erika, along with their friends and family, are portrayed in a way that is relevant to the every day lives of youth in Langley Park, Maryland.

The Avance Center team has been working with Latino youth since the fall of 2012 to develop the brand identity of Adelante as well as the characters and plot of Victor and Erika. The youth are actors and co-creators of the story, and were key to the development of the “turning the corner” (to a better life) theme that underlies the Adelante brand and the Victor and Erika storyline.