Why we are here

The Latin American Council is a non-profit corporation created in response to the more than 300% increase in the Hispanic population, as shown by U.S. Census data from 1990, 2000, and 2002. Specifically, our city has the largest percentage of Hispanics of any municipality in the state and Spanish is the first language of more than 30% of the children enrolled at the elementary schools.

LAC is our region's first non-profit organization dedicated to representing and serving this Hispanic population. These dramatic increases over the past decade have created significant needs for our local governments, businesses, health care and human service providers and schools to assure that their services are accessible and meeting the needs of Latinos who are making significant contributions to our local economy and community.

LAC was established to advocate for the Latino population of our region and state to assure that policies and services are designed and implemented with Hispanic voices at the table. In addition, LAC works on increasing public awareness about the significant cultural and economic assets that Latinos bring to our local community and state and ensure that the often neglected and underserved needs and issues of our Latino population are addressed.

History

LAC was founded in December 2000 as a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and serving the needs of our Hispanic population. LAC's service area is statewide. Since its founding, LAC has met at least twice a month to work on developing the organization through strategic planning, partnership building, and fund raising.

The Council also worked closely with the United Way to develop the following strategic priorities:

1. Further organizational capacity building, through board development, partnership building and fund raising.
2. Continuing advocacy for the Latino community.
3. Continuing public awareness activities on Hispanic assets and needs.
4. Improvement for information and referral services available in Spanish.
5. Volunteer coordination.
6. Spanish language instruction and interpretation/translation services.
7. Leadership development.
8. Work on disaster relief and recovery services.
9. Positive child and youth development, including academic success.
10. Affordable, safe and decent housing.