Agencies serving area Hispanics band together to set an agenda for change
by Chuck Hoven

(Plain Press, June 2010) Leaders of local service agencies, working within Cleveland’s Hispanic Community, have banded together to form the Hispanic Alliance. Formed in early 2009, the Hispanic Alliance hopes to integrate the Hispanic/Latino Community and its stakeholders, and collectively form an agenda to tackle the pressing needs of Cleveland’s Hispanic/Latino community.

Hispanic Alliance Executive Director Carlos Chinchilla sees the organization as working with member agencies to help them implement programs. He sees the organization as a voice to be heard, representing the agenda of its members on issues such as the formation of a new development corporation in Ward 14 or trying to improve the graduation rate of Hispanic students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

Chinchilla says the Hispanic Alliance focuses on five areas: advocacy; leadership development; organizational capacity building; networking and information sharing; and mobilizing and engagement. He says the Hispanic Alliance serves as an umbrella organization to member agencies which each have their individual focus such as education, health care or tackling drug addiction. By meeting and working together in an alliance, these organizations can help to identify service gaps and begin the process of addressing unmet needs in the community.

The Hispanic Alliance is set up so as to promote interaction and networking among its member organizations. Each core member agency has a seat on the Board of Directors. Affiliate members of the Hispanic Alliance collectively elect one representative to the board. Individuals, who join as members, also collectively elect one representative to the Board. The organization also has a number of committees that are open people in the community.

Core member agencies of the Hispanic Alliance include: Catholic Charities/La Providencia Hispanic Services Office; El Barrio; Esperanza, Inc.; Hispanic Business Association; Hispanic Roundtable; Hispanic UMADAOP; Julia De Burgos Cultural Center; MetroHealth Medical Center; Neighborhood Family Practice; Nueva Luz Urban Resource Center; Spanish American Committee and the Tri-C Hispanic Council Office. The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities is an affiliate member of the Hispanic Alliance, and there are a number of individuals who are members as well. The core agencies pay dues based on the size of their organizational budget. Annual dues range from $250 for organizations with budgets under $150,000 a year, to $1,000 for organizations with annual budgets over $715,000. Dues for individuals who become members are $100 per year.

Chinchilla sees cooperation though the Hispanic Alliance as helping member agencies share resources such as legal services or grant writing. Networking among group members and participants in the committees will allow the organizations to share information, research important issues and be better prepared to work toward solutions.

This year Hispanic Alliance members have held a number of Census Awareness Rallies to help answer questions about participating in the 2010 Census. They have also hosted an official Census Office inside their office at 3110 W. 25h (on the first floor of the bank building on the Southwest Corner of Clark and W. 25th). The group joined with the Hispanic Roundtable in sponsoring a non-partisan candidates forum prior to the primary election.

The Hispanic Alliance’s has issued a number of fact sheets on the subject of education and has a series of goals which include aiming to help reduce achievement gaps for Hispanic students, decrease the drop out rate for Hispanic students, and support the efforts of those working to improve the high school and college graduation rates for Hispanic students.

The fact sheets note the seriousness of the achievement gap with Hispanic students who, on average, have math and reading achievement levels 20% lower than white students on Ohio 4th and 8th grade proficiency tests taken in 2008. A Hispanic Alliance fact sheet also point out the difference in the graduation rate between White Non-Hispanic students (57.5%) and Hispanic Students (33.7%) in the Cleveland Municipal School District in the 2008-09 school year.

Additional reports developed by the group are available on the Hispanic Alliance website, they include reports on leadership development, economic development, immigration and health.

Chinchilla says he hopes that all organizations serving the Hispanic/Latino community become members of the Hispanic Alliance. He hopes in the long run the organization will play a role in leadership development and will become a central change agent in the community.

The Hispanic Alliance is located at 3110 W. 25th Street. For more information about the group visit their website at www.hispanicallianceinc.org or call 216-661-4249.

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