Accomplishments

Services to Our Community
Throughout its nineteen years of existence, Centro's foremost accomplishment has been the successful delivery of vital services to literally thousands of families. Program participants improve their quality of life in numerous ways – whether it is practicing new study skills in our youth program, learning how to avoid risky behaviors from our community health program, mastering new software, discovering the tenets of U.S. democracy, and/or developing skills for success in the workforce.

Each year, Centro Latino serves about 5,000 people from 25 different communities in Greater Boston. Here are a few of the ways that Centro clients benefited from our programs during fiscal year 2008:

• 368 individuals learned their HIV status and how to protect themselves.
• 33 HIV+ clients benefitted from case management.
• 433 immigrants received immigration counseling and support.
• 62 enrolled in citizenship preparation classes. 98% of those who took the citizenship test passed and became new U.S. citizens.
• 31 youth participated in after-school programming. 87% improved their school performance by one grade in at least one subject.
• 126 students enrolled in Adult Basic Education classes. 53% increased their English or Spanish Literacy proficiency by one level on a national scale.
• 313 students improved their English for the workforce.
• 234 students increased their computer technology skills.
  
  Community Partnerships
  Another significant accomplishment is the agency's network of community partnerships. Centro is proud to collaborate with community partners to enhance the agency's impact and successfully serve the needs of our shared constituency. Centro Latino collaborates extensively with community agencies, employers, corporate volunteers and faith-based communities.

An exciting new collaboration in FY2007 brought together state, city and community resources to help eligible immigrants complete the naturalization process and become U.S. citizens. Through a competitively awarded contract with the Mass. Office of Refugees and Immigrants, Centro Latino has partnered with the City of Chelsea, City of Revere and the Somali Development Center in Jamaica Plain, to provide citizenship classes and application assistance. In the program's first year, 82 immigrants enrolled in and completed the citizenship class, and 38 immigrants were sworn in as new American citizens.

Diversity
Staying true to its mission, Centro Latino has traditionally maintained a diverse staff and Board of Directors. One of the primary assets of the agency is its bilingual/bicultural professional team of staff and volunteers that have close ties with the communities we serve: 73% percent of the staff and board is Latino, 85% is bilingual in English and Spanish, and 33% lives in Chelsea. This has been particularly significant in helping the organization to continuously evaluate and modify its service mix to maximize resources and maintain its role as a leader, facilitator, and community builder for Latino and immigrant families.