In Memory of Arturo J. Griffiths, Jr.
Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) joins our city and community in mourning the loss of Arturo J. Griffiths, Jr. — a trailblazer, a mentor, and a tireless advocate who helped shape Washington, D.C. into a place where immigrant youth and working-class communities could find power, purpose, and pride.
Arturo immigrated to D.C. from Panama in 1964 and quickly became a force in the city’s social fabric. As one of the co-founders of Latin American Youth Center, which was founded to address the absence of services for the emerging Latino community—offering educational and vocational activities in after school and in the summer at several locations in the community. He knew that our youth needed a positive space where they would be supported.
He was a mover and a shaker willing to start movements to benefit the immigrant community, to create spaces where people could be seen, heard, and supported. His work reflected a belief that community is not something you inherit, but something you build, and he built relentlessly.
Arturo was also a cultural visionary who helped put D.C.’s Latino festivals on the map, bringing energy, color, and political presence to spaces that had long excluded immigrant voices. He understood that culture was not a side note to justice; it was part of the fight. He helped transform our streets, our parks, and our city into places of joyful resistance and shared identity.
Whether organizing and advocating for workers’ rights, or building bridges across communities, Arturo never stopped creating room for the people who too often get left out of the story. His life’s work is still unfolding in every young person who walks through our doors, in every parade that takes the avenue, in every fight for justice that starts with a conversation and grows into a movement. We are grateful that our youth had an opportunity to interview and learn about his legacy through our Teen Center’s Talking Portraits series.
We send our deepest condolences to his family and to the countless community members who saw in Arturo a voice, a mentor, and a home. His absence will be deeply felt. His legacy will be deeply honored.
Gracias, Arturo Griffiths, you showed us that Si, Se Puede Siempre.
Portrait of Arturo J. Griffiths, Jr. 2021
