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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Kathy Mimberg
(202) 745-2128
(202) 776-1714
kmimberg@nclr.org
Washington, D.C.—NCLR (National Council of La Raza) recognized three community organizations at the 2011 NCLR Annual Conference held July 23–26 in Washington, D.C., for their excellence in helping Latino families. NCLR’s Family Strengthening Awards were presented to Centro Hispano of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin, the Women’s Center for Self Employment in San Francisco, California, and Mary’s Center in Washington, D.C., for programs that include youth initiatives, parenting classes, health services, and business training.
The NCLR Family Strengthening Awards are presented annually to organizations that belong to the NCLR Affiliate Network and which have shown exemplary work in the Hispanic community and made a measurable impact in strengthening Latino families. The award winners will each receive a grant of $16,500. Throughout the next year, the awardees will offer workshops that highlight best practices from their programs to other Affiliates in their region and provide information so that other organizations can start or expand similar programs.
“NCLR Affiliates play a vital role in linking families with social and support service networks,” said Dr. José Velázquez, NCLR Vice President of Affiliate Member Services. “We are proud to recognize the extraordinary efforts of these organizations and their work in strengthening the health, social, and economic opportunities available to Latino families in the United States.”
Centro Hispano of Dane County offers resources—including job-search assistance, youth programs, and parenting classes—to help Latinos develop as individuals, families, and communities. Its winning program, ComVida, helps at-risk youth—and their families—who are facing charges such as truancy, retail theft, disorderly conduct, underage drinking, and trespassing.
Mary’s Center provides the culturally diverse communities of Washington, D.C., with high-quality medical and social care, regardless of the ability to pay. Healthy Start Healthy Families (HSHF) demonstrates a combined effort of the national Healthy Families America home visiting model, a national movement to prevent child abuse and neglect, and the federal Healthy Start program, an initiative to reduce infant mortality. HSHF partners with families to ensure that children are healthy, safe, and ready for school through home visitation and links to community resources.
Women’s Initiative for Self Employment was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area to help build the entrepreneurial capacity of women to overcome economic and social barriers and achieve self-sufficiency. Its program, Alternativas para Latinas en Autosuficiencia (ALAS), is the first bilingual business training program of its kind in Northern California to provide business management training and personal empowerment sessions to support clients in their dreams of business ownership and developing the skills necessary for them to succeed.
“NCLR is committed to strengthening the capacity of Affiliate organizations and the way they serve the Latino community,” said Velázquez. “The peer-to-peer trainings represent an important initiative that promotes collaboration and the sharing of best practices with other Affiliates around the country.”
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