A word from our President & CEO
We entered the fall of 2021 with optimism. We were able to meet in person and had adapted so many of our services and infrastructure to meet the challenges of the pandemic. We learned a lot from each other – from how hybrid programming can help us serve more families than ever to how our beloved foster care program can be repurposed into a vital effort to support unaccompanied minors who emigrate to the U.S.
I can’t think of a time when the word “resilience” was so relevant to our community, and to LAYC’s operations as well.
We haven’t lost focus on the continuing impact of the pandemic on our families. This was the second year we worked with a team of nonprofits to distribute around $40 million in rental assistance and demand remains strong for our food pantries.
But we’re blessed to have so much to celebrate. Our Vaccine Corps helped ensure our families remain protected. We lifted up our youth voices, wove their feedback into our programming and celebrated their creativity. I think of our staff as essential workers, since they are lifelines to so many around them.
We couldn’t have done it without our dedicated donors, corporate partners, supporters and Board of Directors. You have stuck with us through it all. My heartfelt thanks for allowing us to be there for our youth and families, every day.
With gratitude,
Mirna (Lupi) Quinteros-Grady
President & CEO
lupi@layc-dc.org
We asked our youth what “community” means to them. This is what they said.
Madelyn was living in an abandoned home in Maryland when she connected with Marian Cabrera, an LAYC Promotor Youth Advocate stationed at her high school. Marian helped Madelyn shift her plans to drop out of school and find a safe house and family in Washington, DC, then continued to work with her throughout the transition.
“Marian was a very important person to me, and still is... Because thanks to her, she led me here. [Otherwise] I don’t know where I’d be.”
In Fiscal Year 22, we served
Lori Kaplan Building in Washington, DC
Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland
The data is in!
A 5-year evaluation of our Promotor Pathway® validated what we know: Our Promotores have strong education and employment outcomes.
At a celebratory event held at the University of Maryland that featured a panel of former Promotor participants, we revealed that among those surveyed:
And the Pathway continues to grow. We placed our first Promotor in a middle school and funded two Promotores to work with out-of-school youth in FY 2022, thanks to an additional grant from the Greater DC Community Foundation that President Tonia Wellons announced at the UMD event. We’ll soon add five more schools, for a total of 13 participating schools.
Many thanks to the Greater DC Community Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Prince George’s County Public Schools, and moderator and LAYC Board member Christian Rhodes for supporting the evaluation and event.
“If it wasn’t for the conversations I was having … with the Promotores and my support people, I feel like college never would have been an option.”
Our families’ challenges continued post-pandemic – and so did our food distribution programs at all of our LAYC sites
Thanksgiving turkeys in Prince George’s County . . .
Almost 1,000 bags of shelf-stable food and fresh produce from our Kaplan Food Pantry, which we shifted from a delivery to a pick-up model . . .
a new Feed the Fridge at Rita Bright Center in DC . . .
. . . and collaborating across Maryland centers to feed families there . . .
We also distributed $40 million in rental assistance funds to 15,000 of our DC families as part of the DC Cares program, a partnership with Carecen, CentroNia, Bread for the City and Mary’s Center.
To address the lack of safety nets for unhoused youth in Montgomery County, we opened the MoCo Reconnect Drop-in Center in Wheaton, MD, in June 2022. With street outreach, housing case management, laundry, workspaces and a “Me Room,” the Center offers respite for unstably housed youth aged 16 to 24.
GED
Programming
Workforce
Programming
Case
Management
HHS
Programming
Impact Moment — MMYC Montgomery County
Celebrating our highest number of GED graduates yet: 21!
LAYC’s COVID-19 response continues through our participation in the new Public Health Americorps program, a five-year partnership with Americorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We’re training twelve Americorps leaders across all three LAYC locations to provide surge public health capacity, from needs assessments to bilingual COVID education and door-to-door vaccine outreach. Our thanks also to the United Way of the National Capital Area, which funded a full-time program coordinator – Jacobo Larios.
Impact Moment — MMYC Prince George’s County
Onboarding 16 new AmeriCorps Members!
HIV transmission and treatment needs are persistent issues in Maryland and DC. We launched a free, confidential testing program during food banking at our Prince George’s County site each Thursday. Anyone who tests positive is connected to services.
AmeriCorps member Nia Shaw and LAYC HIV Coordinator Elenilson Ayala talked about the importance of HIV testing on Great Day Washington in March 2022.
We also piloted the Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategy Program (PREIS), designed to reduce teen pregnancy and STDs, at Paul Public Charter School, our Teen Center and the DC Summer Youth Employment Program – and doubled our PREIS staff.
As part of our Young Parents Program, we distributed over 30,000 diapers to young parents throughout DC thanks to the Greater DC Diaper Bank and completed our first parenting cohort, which focused on establishing life skills and strengthening families post-pandemic.
The pandemic revealed a dire need to make mental health services accessible – and opportunities to do so via hybrid programs at school and at home that meet youth where they are. LAYC’s Social Services team is now offering behavioral health services in 11 Maryland and DC schools, serving housed and unhoused youth and partnering with a variety of agencies.
One youth progressed from almost weekly behavioral incidents and multiple suspensions to using tools for self-regulation that include a pre-arranged pass for seeking counseling when needed. Counselors also connected the family to housing and financial services in this true example of wraparound support.
Students from Benjamin Banneker High School participate in an LAYC-sponsored training on opioids and Narcan.
Impact Moment — DC
Hosting Mayor Muriel Bowser’s press conference announcing DC’s new suicide prevention line – and giving Americorps Public Health participant Neveah Bright a chance to introduce her!
Our youth are learning the art and science of radio and podcast production through
W-LAYC Teen Center Radio. FY2022 programs included Tax Day PSAs that shared tips and insights on how our tax dollars are used.
In fall 2021, a group of our youth wrote and published four bilingual children’s books about their immigrant experiences. With mentorship from Shout Mouse Press and Apple Creative Studios, they sent titles like Perla’s Magical Goodbye into the world.
In March, two youth – Joy and Andy – spoke to local NPR affiliate WAMU about the experience.
We hosted a robust art program at our Teen Center in spring 2022, with six classes for youth to study drawing, painting, street art and more – and display their work at the Blossoming Art & Media Exhibit.
LAYC youth who are part of the Montgomery County Conservation Corps joined the Anacostia Riverkeeper and other partners to install Montgomery County’s first litter trap, designed to keep trash out of the Anacostia River. The photo to the right first appeared in DCist. Click here to read the story.
Our new cookbook, full of recipes our youth developed, is available for download!
For our Youth Voice initiative, we surveyed over 500 youth about inclusion at LAYC and found that intentional relationship-building is key in helping youth feel safe and secure. The next phase will address organizational equity, with youth weighing in on the safety and accessibility of LAYC’s spaces and a pay equity study. This work was supported by the World Bank.
Our demographics shifted in FY2022, as more Latino youth and families sought our services during the pandemic.
Our youth demographics, end of FY 2022:
Staff gathered at our Staff Appreciation Event, in September 2021.
We love our staff! Thanks for all you do, including going the extra mile during our special events.
Staff participated in a friendly game of tug of war during our annual staff picnic!
We honored Ryan Palmer from the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation at our 2022 Gala. As director of DC Community Initiatives and a DC native, Ryan has shepherded generous, systemic investments in LAYC since 2018. With a commitment to “building together,” Ryan sees through the eyes of the grantee and helped put LAYC on a path to not just survive, but thrive through the pandemic’s challenges. Thank you to Ryan and the foundation!
New donor Adobe joined individuals and partners in supporting the establishment of a permanent food pantry in DC, as our Food and Nutrition program worked to meet families’ ongoing challenges with food insecurity. Thanks to Adobe and others, our pantry is stocked and we’re able to send youth home with food while tracking their visits over time. We’re grateful to board member Wei Zhang for connecting us with this opportunity.
Another Gala honoree, Arlene Kogod, has supported LAYC financially while partnering with us to implement her mentoring program for young Latina girls. Arlene and her team offered counseling, tutoring, a cooking program and more to a cohort of girls, following them from elementary school through college – which the program paid for – and beyond. In recognition of the stability that came with Arlene’s financial support, we also established the Arlene Kogod Philanthropic Legacy Award.
Our Board is terrific.
In FY 2022, we welcomed Samuel Williams of Pepco and Landis Rush with United Health Care; Brett Meringoff stepped away.
Our current list of board members can be viewed here and the FY 2022 list is below.
Thanks to each of you for your leadership and support!
Betsy Brand – Chair
Kaye Pestaina – Vice Chair
Adam Spiegel – Treasurer
Shari Thomas – Secretary
Elizabeth Burrell
Simon Fairclough
Alfonso Guzman
Meg Hauge
Esperanza Lugo
Carrie E. Markovitz
Jennifer Mauskapf Smalls
Nancy Miranda
Carlos Oliva
Aaron Pomerantz
Kimberly Salameh
Yvonna Thomas
Amanda Wood
Samuel Wiliams
Wei Zhang
Net Assets at the beginning of the year: $3,533,524
Net Assets at the end of the year: $3,396,148
Copyright © 2023 Latin American Youth Center