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
La Paz Chattanooga has three specific areas of focus:
Individual/Family Stabilization: Case-management services, housing support, medical, debt relief, referrals for social support, health-care access, food access, basic needs.
Community Education/Engagement: Educational access on topics that are relevant to the immigrant population, such as civic education, personal finance and wealth building, and early childhood development.
Advocacy/Placemaking: Civic outreach including voter registration, educational programming to update and inform the community about the political landscape at all levels -- local, state and national.
DRAWING BOARD
La Paz Chattanooga is set to revive its iconic fundraiser, Sangria on the Southside, this June. Having been on hold since the global pandemic hit in 2020, the event celebrates Chattanooga's local Latino-owned businesses and rich Latino culture. This year's event is set for 7 p.m. on June 14 at the First Horizon Pavilion. "We're trying to bring a nostalgic feel to it. We're throwing it back to when we first began this event," says Sanchez, noting that a band will be playing live music for the occasion.
BY THE NUMBERS
20: Years La Paz has been in operation as a 501(c)3 nonprofit
46,000: La Paz Resource Center calls for assistance in 2023
120: Participants in La Paz Workforce Development classes (English, computer literacy, etc.) in 2023
2: La Paz paid (part-time) staff in March 2004
15: La Paz paid (part/full-time) staff as of 1/1/24
$1.4M: La Paz 2024 budget
8: Number of Latin American countries represented on staff/board (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela, Dominican Republic)
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* Dylan Rivera is first Latino to serve in a Chattanooga mayor’s office