The Latina Center
Celebrating 23 Years of Personal & Community Transformation March 28, 2023 - Richmond City Council Meeting
Presentation by Miriam Wong, Executive Director & Founder
Mission
The mission of The Latina Center is to improve the health and well-being of our Latino community by providing leadership and personal development opportunities for all Latinos.
Vision
Our vision for the future is that Latinos continue to learn, heal, and build the skills and self-reliance to overcome their challenges, achieve their dreams, and emerge as strong business and community leaders.
What We Do
Leadership Development
• Women, Health & Leadership / Mujer, Salud y Liderazgo • Young Latinas Future Leaders
• Policy & Advocacy Leadership
Health & Well-Being
• Mental Health Services
• Our Children First / Primero Nuestro Niños
• Enough! / Ya Basta!
• Contra Costa Cares, Art Healing Workshops & More
Economic Empowerment
• Microenterprise / Microempresas
• Financial Independence Workshops
Legal Support
Women, Health & Leadership (WHL) /
Mujer, Salud y Liderazgo (MSL)
WHL / MSL
• 800 Peer Leaders have graduated from our yearlong
program since its start in 2000
• Transformative Process
• Social Responsibility: Each Leader develops a learning project to address a need in their community
• 35,000 community members reached through learning
projects
“I graduated from the Women, Health & Leadership program in 2003 and then was fortunate to work at The Latina Center for two and a half years as an Assistant Director.
What I learned during the program and through my experience working at Latina Center was some of the most important training in my professional career, not to mention all the deep friendships I still have through the programs. The center is a semillero (seedbed) of talent where you get to teach and learn, your service to the community is celebrated, and you are encouraged to be all you want to be.”
Nancy Villaseñor
Health Educator, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Young Latin Future Leaders
(YLFL)
• 406 Middle & High School Students have participated in our program since its start in 2009
• Provides Latino youth with leadership development, peer support, mentoring, and advocacy training to improve
their quality of life and academic success
• Social Responsibility
• Designed to support self-esteem and health
Our YLFL youth led a successful campaign to preserve the jobs of WCCUSD School Community Outreach Workers (SCOWs) this month. They wrote a letter, collected 653 signatures (576 students, 51 parents, etc.) and presented it on 3/15 to the WCCUSD Board.
Ya Basta! / Enough! Program
• Domestic Violence prevention and intervention program • 1320+ survivors of domestic violence served
• Provides education, support, and training on how we can together end family violence in our Latino community.
• The Caminos Al Apoyo Support Group is for women who have experienced physical, emotional, and/or sexual violence. • Our Celebrating Recovery Support Group is a 12-step
program for survivors of domestic violence seeking inner peace.
¡Ya Basta! + Sin Miedo Campaign
Our Children First / Primero
Nuestro Niños
• 4200 parents trained through the program since it started in 2008
• The program offers a Parenting School (Escuela de Padres), which uses the evidence-based curriculum STEP (Systematic Training for Effective Parenting). The school teaches Latino parents how to support the healthy emotional, social, and educational development of their children.
• This program is a part of our Mental Health Services and, through it, we make referrals for support and treatment including individual therapy
Microenterprise / Microempresas
• Our program provides classes, workshops, technical
assistance, small grants, a peer network, and other
support to help entrepreneurial Latinos succeed.
• We help entrepreneurs develop a business plan, generate financial projections, identify potential lenders, prepare loan applications, and create strategic marketing tools.
Legal Advice
• Monthly free consultations with an Immigration Lawyer • We provide Legal Advice related to immigration, U-Visa, and VAWA (Violence Against Women Act). VAWA is
legislation, first passed in 1994, that creates and
supports comprehensive, cost-effective responses to
domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.
We Listen & Respond
• Covid 19 Community Response
• Covid Vaccine Campaign
• Emergency Rent Assistance Program
• Census 2020
• Vote 2020
• Multicultural Wellness Walks
Impact
• 23 Years of Serving the Latino Community in the Bay
Area!
• 16 Programs since 2000
• 8+ Additional Services (Legal Advice, Mental Health
Services & More)
• 65,000+ Served
• 220,000+ Reached
• 14 Staff Members currently and many trained Parent
Educators and Volunteers
Thank You!
3701 Barrett Avenue, Richmond CA 94805
(510) 233 – 8595 (9AM-5PM Pacific Time)
[email protected]
www.thelatinacenter.org