About Us
Based in Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods—together home to the second largest Mexican population in the country—Latinos Progresando is a nonprofit organization that works with immigrants and their families to build stronger and healthier communities.
How can we build stronger and healthier communities?
The lack of educational and professional opportunities for immigrants—compounded by staggering waiting times for family visas—contribute to many problems in Chicago’s Latino communities. Poor education, gang involvement, and early pregnancy are often linked to immigration issues: frequently heads of household cannot find living-wage employment because they are undocumented or children cannot take advantage of opportunities available to their peers because of their immigration status.
What programs do we offer?
Latinos Progresando offers:
- Legal services that help immigrants find legal employment and reunite their families
- Youth programs such as College-Bound Youth Group and Teatro Americano that encourage participation in the arts and in higher education
- Outreach to marginalized immigrants through programs like the Violence Against Womence Assistance program
- Advocacy through community forums
What is our history?
Luis Gutierrez, the agency’s executive director, founded Latinos Progresando in 1998 to answer his community’s need for low-cost, high-quality legal immigration services. With the assistance of community members, the agency amplified its mission to include organizing around just immigrant policy in 2000. Our community education work focuses on creating better access to higher education for immigrant students and providing accurate and timely information on immigration and related issues within immigrant communities. The marriage of legal services and advocacy/organizing allows the agency to learn firsthand about issues of concern in the community and involve members in advocating for change.
Why immigration? Why Pilsen and Little Village?
Latinos Progresando recognizes immigration as a cornerstone of a healthy community whose members can engage in positive activities on both a personal and a social level. Immigration is a baseline issue in many of Chicago’s Latino communities. According to a 2003 study by the Center for Urban Economic Development of the University of Illinois at Chicago, there are approximately 220,000 undocumented immigrants living in Chicago; a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center tracking the growth of the undocumented population in the U.S. indicates that this number could be much higher. Pilsen and Little Village, where Latinos Progresando is based, are traditional ports of entry for Latino immigrants, with over 90 percent Latino populations; as such, they are home to many of these immigrants. Figures from the 2000 Census show that 85% of immigrant families are “mixed”—at least one parent or both parents are non-citizens and one or more children are citizens—making immigration an issue that touches nearly every family.