NCLR’s work would not be possible without its Affiliates – community-based organizations in all regions of the nation working to provide direct services to the Hispanic community.  The Affiliate of the Year Award provides NCLR an opportunity to showcase the achievements of an outstanding Affiliate – specifically how its accomplishments have made a positive, measurable impact on the lives of Latinos – and to recognize the Affiliate’s active participation in NCLR events and support of NCLR’s policy and programmatic initiatives.  This year NCLR is proud to present the award to the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families (CHCF).

In 1982, a group of Latino human service professionals recognized that the growing Latino community in New York City had concerns and needs that were not being heard or met.  Pooling their resources and knowledge, they founded the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, Inc. which ever since has been dedicated to improving the quality of life for Latino children and their families.

Believing that the most effective way to serve Latino families is by building upon their existing strengths and fostering self-sufficiency, CHCF offers a number of direct programs and services.  Its Child Care Resource and Referral Program addresses the growing need for affordable, professional child care; parents use the referral service to locate child care near their home, school, or work, and Latinas interested in becoming registered family day care providers receive training and ongoing technical assistance.  Moreover, recognizing that the Hispanic population is particularly isolated from public health education, CHCF developed several mobile programs, staffed by peer educators who are members of the target communities, to reach out to isolated populations.  Family Health Education programs encompass a range of public health community education and outreach initiatives targeting immigrant Latino populations who are particularly vulnerable to health and mental health care disparities.  In efforts to improve the quality of life for Latino children and families, CHCF also offers Youth Development programs which include school dropout prevention, adolescent pregnancy prevention, after-school activities, a family literacy project, and a healthy living summer program to combat obesity.

Furthermore, while grounded in direct services, CHCF is active in the local, state, and national policy arena.  The Latino Family Policy Center empowers Latino communities, providing them with an active policy voice in areas in which they have been historically excluded from participating.  Activities on this front are wide-ranging.  On the policy and advocacy front, CHCF identifies, articulates, and promotes the interests of the Hispanic community in critical public policy matters with the federal, state, and city government.  CHCF is also engaged in coalition-building, bringing together Hispanic community-based organizations to identify and mobilize around social services and educational issues that will have a major impact on the quality of services Hispanic clients receive, and helping to organize local service consortiums for the purpose of community building and planning efforts.  Finally, CHCF offers free civic education and history classes to the community in English and Spanish, as well as assistance in completing the Naturalization Application.

CHCF’s engagement in both program and policy activities has defined its affiliation with NCLR and has helped NCLR achieve the impact that it seeks for the Latino community throughout the country.  The NCLR-CHCF relationship has been complementary and valuable on a number of fronts.  This year, Elba Montalvo, Executive Director of CHCF, will complete her second and final term on the NCLR Board of Directors.  She has also served as the Board Liaison to the NCLR Affiliate Council, providing a crucial link between NCLR’s Board and the leadership of its Affiliate Network.

In addition to its participation at NCLR’s National Issue Briefing and Advocacy Day, CHCF has also partnered closely with NCLR on the issue of early childhood education.  CHCF was chosen as a national partner in the Lee y serás initiative, a bilingual early education curriculum that CHCF launched in the northeast with family day care providers.  Also, at the 2005 NCLR Annual Conference, Ms. Montalvo moderated a town hall discussion on early childhood education because of CHCF’s reputation of promoting and providing high-quality early childhood education through bilingual professional training of family day care providers.

For more than 25 years, CHCF has been a voice for Latino families in New York, and NCLR is proud to recognize its work and our partnership.