HISTORY
It’s been 20 years now since a group of local faith leaders who wanted to help the Latino population launched La Paz Chattanooga as a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Originally named La Paz de Dios and headquartered in the East Lake/Highland Park area, the nonprofit had one part-time employee and served between 150 to 300 people per year in its early days. With a state grant won in 2008, La Paz hired a director, client-service staff and a communications/development specialist. “That was a turning point,” says Communications/Development Manager Lily Sanchez. Today, La Paz Chattanooga has a staff of 12 and serves more than 10,000 people in a typical year.
MISSION
La Paz Chattanooga’s mission is to “empower and engage (the city’s) Latino population through advocacy, education and inclusion.” Sanchez says cultivating a thriving Latino community in Chattanooga means not only achieving financial stability and economic opportunity for its people, but crafting a community that “can retain and safely express its values, culture and identity — not just meeting basic needs, but becoming embedded into the city and contributing to the fabric of what makes Chattanooga so great.”
SCOPE