Program Spotlight

For Many Children in Allapattah, Latinos United Is Their “Shining Star”

Published Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Yaina, Ricardo, Gloria and the other children who bustle in the door for the Latinos United after-school program are as hopeful as kids anywhere.

They laugh and chatter, toss their books on the tables and flip them open, ready to learn. They pepper coordinator Marta Velasquez and aide Adler Julian with questions and hunger to hear: “That’s it, you’re right.” The stars they dream of are as bright as their smiles.

But the odds against them are long. Their Allapattah neighborhood is statistically among the most impoverished, underemployed and crime-ridden in the county. The abandoned lot across the street, the boarded shops nearby, the front door whose glass has been replaced with plywood – are stark reminders of this reality.

Many of the children’s parents speak English only haltingly at best; they’re unable to help the children with their homework and reluctant to involve themselves at the school.

Friendships and camaraderie are especially important
component for these Allapattah students.

Quality after-school programs like this one funded by The Children’s Trust deliver a much-needed service to parents and support children’s development in many areas. They provide safe haven during the after-school hours, help with homework, encourage fitness and teach about nutrition. For these kids, with the odds so stacked against them, Latinos United is a shining star that keeps their hopes alive.

After earning two masters degrees in New England, Dr. Juana A. Vargas relocated to Miami and worked in the public school system. Studying nights and weekends, she earned her doctorate in Education from Nova Southeastern University and taught summers at Miami Jackson High School. Many of the students there hailed from nearby Allapattah.

“What do you want to do when you grow up?” she asked them. Too many had the same response: “Oh, I don’t know, my family is so poor.”

Their reply bothered her, and made her remember what a college mentor had told her once: “It doesn’t matter how poor you are, you can still be something in life.”

Coordinator Marta Velazquez helps students get up and running
on the literacy software programs.

She founded Latinos United in Action Center (LUAC) in 2000, just blocks from Miami Jackson High and in the heart of the vibrant, but tough Allapattah neighborhood. She hoped to change the mindset of the students.

A small grant from the county helped get things started, but the early years were difficult. Vargas remembers the day kids watched in wonder as police officers dashed through the center chasing an escaping suspect.

In 2004, a grant from Hispanic Philanthropy helped bump the center along, and in 2007 LUAC received a starter grant from The Children’s Trust, a $50,000 seed grant meant to build capacity in small, community-based organizations.

Students get right to work on homework assignments at LUAC.

Then in 2008, Dr. Vargas and Pedro Uranga, her husband and the program administrator, took a serendipitous call. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was visiting Miami looking for a school to target for renovation. The IDB, which supports development projects throughout the Americas, consulted Vargas, aware of her close connections to her native Dominican Republic.

“Why not consider our center? We’re small enough and certainly could use some assistance,” Vargas ventured.

“We’re sure we can find a school and, besides, we don’t want to get your hopes up,” came the reply.

Yet after a week of searching for a prototype school, the IDB directors visited LUAC. By the time they left that afternoon, their answer had changed: “You’re just the facility we were looking for.”

On April 3, 2008, seventy volunteers from the “Rock, Paper and Scissors,” a DirectTV initiative, in partnership with Microsoft and the IDB, converged on the center. The “dinosaur” computers were replaced with 25 sparkling new desktops. The chairs bought for $80 at a garage sale were discarded. The bathrooms were redone. New cement was poured for the patio outside, a garden planted and on the outside walls local artist Xavier Cortada painted a series of native trees with maxims from famous figures – Pablo Neruda, Simon Bolivar, Martin Luther King Jr., Jose Marti. Within days, the make-over was complete: “before” and “after” photos capture the remarkable transformation.

About that same time, LUAC successfully competed for a larger funding grant from The Children’s Trust for its after-school program.

Administrator Pedro Uranga and Director Dr. Juana A. Vargas.

“The Children’s Trust has trained us in all kinds of capacities,” says Uranga. “We’ve learned the financial management process inside and out – it’s like a university. We’re really thankful.”

The LUAC after-school program runs from 2 to 7 p.m. and currently accommodates 50 children, ages 7-13. The waiting list of children waiting to enter is long. The program focuses on five activities areas: reading/literacy; physical fitness (dancing, workout and aerobics), social skills/conflict resolution; family involvement and communication; technology training and Internet access. Nutritious snacks and beverages are served, and evening classes in citizenship and other services are offered for parents some evenings.

In its mission statement, LUAC describes itself as “a catalyst for positive change in learning.” The children here this late January afternoon serve as examples. Michael, a 5th-grader at Maya Angelou Elementary, enjoys getting homework help and says that the program has improved his grades at school. Yaina, 11 and also a student at Santa Clara, was a nonreader when she first came. Now she enjoys helping younger students in their reading. Ricardo, a 2nd-grader at Santa Clara Elementary, has been attending for the past three years; he’s made good friends and the program has helped his socialization skills. Tyler, a kindergartner at Santa Clara, looks forward every day to practicing the “Hooked on Phonics” program on the computers.

The lyrics to the well-known song “When You Wish Upon a Star” reminds us that “it makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you.” For these children who reside in Allapattah, with the highest juvenile arrest rate in Miami-Dade County,” they just might consider naming their “star”: Latinos United.

Written by Michael R. Malone