NEW BEDFORD — The Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores was among eight organizations who split $200,000 in grant money from the Latino Equity Fund, the fund said in a May 12 press release.
“LEF’s mobilization of funds is a true testament to our commitment to action in response to data and advancing recovery for many of our community leaders still balancing the effects of COVID on their operations,” said Evelyn Barahona, director of Latino Equity Fund. “We selected organizations whose leadership and position in the community is mission critical to promoting economic prosperity, health equity and wellbeing for Latinos in Massachusetts.”
CCT said that the one-time award of $25,000 will help the labor and immigrant advocacy nonprofit continue in their work of educating and helping the local community.
“We are very pleased that the Latino Equity Fund has included us in this special one-time funding opportunity,” Adrian Ventura, CCT executive director, told The Standard-Times in an email. “The funds will help us continue with our core work of educating immigrant workers and helping them organize and take action to secure their rights, while at the same providing food and cash aid, doing vaccine outreach and promotion, and starting a new project of offering community-based English classes.”
CCT added that during the pandemic, their workload grew exponentially and they even started offering classes to people wishing to learn English and Ki’iche — the main language of many Central Americans in the New Bedford area.
The eight grant recipients work in areas that include: early education access, worker education, job training, family and business economic support, affordable housing, caregiving, entrepreneurship, and more to communities in Gateway Cities.
“These grants address a number of the issue areas highlighted in ¡Avancemos Ya!, as part of the LEF’s larger strategy to work with our nonprofit partners to provide greater equity for Latinos,” said Juan Fernando Lopera, Co-Chair of the Latino Equity Fund. “At a time when Massachusetts faces an outstanding need for workers, empowering our talented, entrepreneurial and fast-growing Latino communities to fill that need is a crucial step that provides benefits for everyone in the state.”
Other recipients included: The Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Maverick Landing Community Services in East Boston, Mujeres Unidas Avanzando in Dorchester, La Alianza Hispana, Inc., in Boston, Latinx Health Collaborative in Boston, The Latino Health Insurance Program, Inc., in Framingham, and Sociedad Latina in Roxbury.
