A Legacy of Literacy

In 1991, Marcos Cajina (founder), Melanie Stephens and a committed group of volunteers formed Centro Latino for Literacy [originally Centro Latino por la Educación Popular] to address the pressing need for basic literacy instruction among the Los Angeles Latino community.

Marcos and Melanie noticed that although readily available, English as a Second Language (ESL) programs were not effective in teaching literacy because often students lacked the ability to read and write in their own language. Centro Latino set out to bridge the chasm by teaching non-literate Spanish speakers how to read and write in Spanish. This approach helped them build the foundational reading and writing skills – and the confidence – to learn English and pursue other educational and personal goals.

Centro Latino established its permanent home in Westlake/Pico-Union in 1998 and as its popularity grew so did the number of requests from other communities for its services. In response, Centro Latino migrated its cornerstone basic literacy program to the web and launched Leamos™ (por computadora) (Let’s Read by computer), a web-based curriculum, in 2004. The Leamos™ program allows Spanish-speaking adults and youth to access literacy instruction in the home, workplace, and community centers and has proven to be quite successful. In addition, Centro Latino expanded its classrooms to offer the Listos (We’re Ready) course, a second tier class that allows students to continue improving their literacy skills

Centro Latino has taught literacy skills, including basic math, grammar, and financial literacy to 4,249 non-literate Latino youth and adults. Through education partners, ESL, computer and job readiness skills have been taught to 6,428 low-income Latinos. Our literacy programs have undergone formative and summative evaluations conducted by Dr. Concepción Valadez, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies.

Over the past 20 years, we have formed strong partnerships with other institutions to provide a range of beginner-level educational programs at our 8th Street Education Centers, housed generously by the Los Angeles Community Design Center and Community Housing Assistance Program. Our education partners include: Belmont Community Adult School, Metropolitan Skills Center, L.A. Southwest College, and the Emergency Immigrant Education Program. Leveraging extensive in-kind resources helps keep our focus on what we do best – teach literacy.

A Strategy for Spreading Literacy

Centro Latino continues to work on bridging the skills gap between Leamos™ and the beginning English curricula offered by our education partners. We are adding a tool kit for 10 new lessons and will move the Listos curriculum to a web-based platform, offering it as a second level of Leamos™.

Other business priorities include:

Expand strategic partnerships to continue serving the needs of non-literate adult Spanish speakers in Los Angeles County
Piloting new lessons to optimize our web-based programs
Our goal is to bring functional literacy to the 215,000 plus non-literate adult Spanish speakers in Los Angeles County and then 2 million across the United States
We are developing a business strategy to support a gradual transition into self-sustaining social enterprise
Literacy, ESL, and computer classes and training will continue at Centro’s 8th Street Education classrooms.

To learn more about our priorities, or how our programs work, please contact us at 213.235.9993.

Proven Leadership Leading to Solid Results

Mari Riddle

President & CEO

Mari Riddle joined in March 2010 and is leading the organization’s social enterprise venture; Leamos; Adult Literacy Solutions. Ms. Riddle has over twenty years of experience in designing, implementing, and administering community economic development strategies as an executive director with Pacific Community Ventures LA Region, TELACU Community Capital, and the Coalition for Women’s Economic Development.

Mari has also combined the performing arts with community economic development as the former Executive Director of the Friends of the Levitt Pavilion, MacArthur Park and as a consultant to the Los Angeles Arts Loan Fund and the Center for Cultural Innovation.

Mari comes from a family of K-12 and Adult Ed educators. She holds a Masters of Arts in Urban Planning (UCLA) and a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies (Brown University).

Contact Mari

AnaMaría Ruiz

Director, Literacy Expansion

AnaMaría Ruiz came to Centro Latino for Literacy in September 2006 after nearly twenty years of service with a governmental entity managing workforce development programs for ten cities in the eastern Los Angeles County. She has spent most of her professional career managing programs that served adults who experienced employment barriers, including language or lack of a complete high school education. In addition, she worked as a consultant in projects including qualitative research focusing on determining community impacts through programs geared for children ages five or under, and translating and presenting training workshops.

As part of the Leadership Team at Centro Latino Ms. Ruiz has been instrumental in the expansion of the innovative on-line literacy curriculum, Leamos™. Prior to joining the Centro Latino’s staff, she contributed to the organization as a member of the Board of Directors.

Ms. Ruiz has personal knowledge of the impact of literacy. As a young child in Guatemala, she observed first-hand the struggles of her non-literate grandparents.

Awards: 2009 La Opinión Mujeres Destacadas – Award for Education

Contact AnaMaría

Brenda J. de González

Coordinator, Operations & Programs

Ms. González joined Centro Latino for Literacy in 2008 to assist with the Countywide Spanish Language Literacy Campaign launched that same year. Prior to this position, Ms. González worked in adult schools and community centers and was a Spanish-language financial literacy instructor for Centro Latino for Literacy. Her experience also includes serving as a parent educator for Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE). In her current role, she manages the volunteer pool, oversees student services, and acts as liaison with the building and facilities operators which house CLL’s classrooms and administrative office. Ms. González was born in Guatemala and studied Educational Sciences (Ciencias de Educación) at the University of Francisco Marroquín (Universidad Francisco Marroquín).

Ms. Gonzalez’s experience of immigrating to Los Angeles as a young-adult parent provides a rich perspective that informs her work with Centro Latino.

Contact Brenda

STAFF

Carlos Gómez, Literacy Expansion Coordinator

Berlis Alvarado, Program Assistant

Gladys Campos, Programs Assistant

Consuelo de León Morales, Lead Spanish Literacy Instructor

Jorge Morales, Spanish Literacy Instructor

Claudia Sandoval, Communication Coordinator, AmeriCorp Member

Adjunct Faculty

In partnership with the following institutions, the faculty members listed below, teach courses at Centro Latino for Literacy:

Teresa Gil-Villa

ESL & Leamos Instructor