New Haven Independent

(This article originally appeared in the weekly newspaper La Voz Hispana. It was translated into English by Ana de Santiago.)

It’s not a community agency, nor is it an institution that distributes money and service until its funds are exhausted and must then start over. The Progreso Latino Fund is a new concept that at first impression, suggests an institution with a vision far beyond the many that exist to help the Hispanic community.

“The Progreso Latino Fund has well-defined goals: To focus on educational issues and seek economic funds for implementation of its programs for the benefit of our community,” says lawyer Juan Figueroa, who forms part of the fund’s advisory committee.

This new project is the result of the reflection and conclusion arrived at by two Hispanic professionals in New Haven, John Padilla and Frances Padilla. It was from this reflection that the idea surged for forming a mechanism that advocated for “something for Hispanics, by Hispanics,” a special fund to implement other initiatives fundamentally oriented to work with Hispanic youth.

Towards this aim, they’ve established a strategic alliance with the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, which has allowed them to deposit in their account all the funds raised and to collect interest. [So people who give money to the Community Foundation can designate it to go specifically to the Progreso Latino Fund.]

“We have an intermediate goal of $100,000. We would like to have half a million to start, but we have to work with the little that we have. The important thing is to educate the Community Foundation of New Haven about the necessities of the Latino community in New Haven,” says Frances Padilla.

Short and Long Term Goals

There are 215,000 Hispanics in Connecticut who are eligible to vote, but only 25 percent of them actually vote.

“Imagine if 90 percent of Hispanics that were eligible voted. They would change some elections,” points out Frances Padilla. “It’s not enough to register potential voters, taking advantage of the election season. There needs to be follow-up and must maintain them participating in the process. We need to educate voters. This is one of our aims.”

Another one of the objectives of the Progreso Latino Fund is to complete a campaign to stimulate reading and writing amongst youth and adults.

The Community Foundation’s Agenda

The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven is the largest in the New Haven region and surrounding zones, serving more than 600,000 people.This year, reorganization was initiated with the aim of creating a new focus in the manner in which donations for programming are made, as well as in the active participation of donors. The result has been new programs within which the “Communities of Color Initiative” is found, and of which the Progreso Latino Fund is a part.

John Padilla has been involved with the Community Foundation as a board member, and was the first Latino president of the board. During this period, John has seen the foundation develop a new focus and pass beyond simply being an organization that raises funds (to later divide it amongst the users as donations), to an organization that actually specializes in mobilizing funding groups, donors, and non-profit organizations and community leaders, to participate in programs of directed participative donations (where the donor is directly active in the work of the organization receiving the donations); and in the case of the NGOs with limited financial capacity, to the administration of investments and investment of funds.

Taking advantage of the Foundation’s new focus, the Latino Progress Fund has, until now, organized three community forums with varied themes: About the leadership within the Latino community, the participation in civic issues of the community, and one revolving the role of Latinos in the media. A fourth forum will take effect this month regarding the child-rearing process for Latino and Puerto Rican children.

The Advisory Committee for the Progreso Latino Fund is constituted by: Sonia Cabán, President and Finacial Advisor, The Caban Group, LLC, Pamela Delerme CNM MSN, Nurse Midwife, private practice, Juan A. Figueroa, President, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, Ceferino Lugo, Assistant Superintendent of Vocational Schools, State of Connecticut, María I. Mójica, Senior Program Officer, William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund, Marta Moret, President Urban Policy Strategies, Michael Negrón, Managing Director, Negrón Consulting Francisco Ortíz, Chief of Police, city of New Haven, Frances G. Padilla, Director of Programs, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, John Padilla, President, New Paradigms Consulting and John Soto, President & CEO, Space-Craft Manufacturing.