Creating a Sense of Belonging for Philadelphia’s Latino Community

At 7 a.m. each weekday, ACLAMO opens its doors to 75 preschoolers who are eager to learn their letters and get better at raising their hands. Elsewhere in the center, seniors stretch for yoga class, and high schoolers huddle with career counselors to discuss their futures. Later in the evening, adults fill classes teaching English, citizenship preparation, and digital skills for beginners. The Norristown-based social services organization has been serving the Latino community since 1978, creating a sense of belonging, a warm embrace, and opportunity.

ACLAMO’s executive director Nelly Jimenez-Arevalo, 56, is Venezuelan-born. She exudes the energy of someone half her age as she checks on her staff, welcomes new members, and spreads her vision of ACLAMO as a home away from home for anyone who walks through its doors. Working up to 15 hours a day has enabled Jimenez-Arevalo to grow the organization tenfold in the past 10 years. Here is why she does it.

What inspired you to get involved with ACLAMO?

I am originally from Caracas, Venezuela, and came here 29 years ago. I went to law school and started helping people who needed social services and have worked in nonprofit ever since.

I feel that I have been so privileged in my life; I always want to give back by investing my time and energy to provide the same opportunity to others. That is how you pay it forward. That has been my mission in life. I always say I can’t believe I get paid to do that. Now I work 14 or 15 hours a day. After that I need to go home and have my sleep! That helps!

How did you get involved in ACLAMO?

ACLAMO has been in existence for 48 years. The founder, Adamino Ortiz, started a grassroots effort to create a social services agency for Latinos in Montgomery County and launched ACLAMO. He stayed for 27 years. I am the first and only woman to hold the executive director position. This year I will celebrate 10 years at ACLAMO.

How has ACLAMO evolved?

The mission has been the same — to offer services and education — but we have expanded our reach to include health services as well.

ACLAMO was founded by a group of Latino leaders who recognized that no agencies were serving the community, so they decided to open an education program. But they soon were providing services such as housing placement and interpretation, whatever was needed. By the time I came, there were seven employees, and the budget was half a million dollars. Now, we have an operating budget of $5 million dollars and 75 employees.

ACLAMO started serving the Latino community and now we serve anybody. If you come to our community center, it doesn’t matter who you are, we serve you. We still have the skills and the knowledge and the cultural experience to serve the Latino community, since we are bilingual and many of us are Latino. We live in the community, so we understand the community.

“This is their center, this is their country, and they can be proud of the things that they have now.”

What has been your biggest win?

We have developed programs in response to what the community has asked for. For instance, members told us they needed more maternity services, so we hired a maternal health navigator to work with expecting mothers and mothers whose babies were under two years old. Now, she helps them navigate the health system and other barriers, such as how to get into prenatal classes.

We also provide education and services such as how to use new car seats. And, we provide car seats to our moms. We now have support groups and education classes for young mothers so they don’t feel so isolated. We bring older moms in as speakers so new moms can understand what their bodies are going through. We make sure they get the exercises they need.

We want to provide the highest level of services. We don’t sell a product, but we offer a service to people who are underprivileged, and we want to provide as good of a service as anyone else can provide.

How does someone benefit from the program?

You either invest now or you have to spend later. That is my favorite thing to tell people. Either invest in our children or spend later on other services, because you are going to hinder their success.

My grandmother said that the only thing that is going to set you up for success is education. I believe that. We help young people create a vision for their futures by providing opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise.

Yes, they can become policemen — which would be great, but they can also decide to be doctors and engineers. They can consider areas they wouldn’t have considered without our STEM programs. We teach them that they can do anything. We are helping them create that vision for themselves.

What impact are you having on the lives of community members you work with?

When you are an immigrant, you can feel very isolated. You do not belong where you came from anymore, but you may also feel that you are a foreigner in a new place. That sense of belonging is why we take so much pride in our centers.

We are lifting immigrants up and opening them up to new opportunities. We help them learn skills so they can do what they want to do. We teach digital navigation, such as computer skills. We help them become the best parents they can be. We help them exercise and get healthy. The impact of all these activities is that we reduce that sense of isolation.

By reducing isolation, we create a sense of belonging. This is their center, this is their country, and they can be proud of the things that they have now. This creates a sense of community and makes them want to do better in their new country.

When someone donates to ACLAMO, how is the money used?

Our summer program, which we run for 250 kids every year, needs money for science materials, transportation, and to buy snacks. If we want to take our kids to the annual science fair for girls in Blue Bell, we don’t have money for transportation, so $500 allows us to rent a bus and take 30 girls to participate.

We are trying to keep kids safe and out of trouble. During the summer they don’t get food through school lunch programs. Here at the center, they are getting their breakfast with us and their lunch with us.

We know they are going to be safe with us, doing activities and learning. All our programs are STEM-based. We give them an academic piece, an enrichment piece, and a fun piece.

What sets ACLAMO apart?

What sets us apart are our values. Our values don’t just stay on the website. We make decisions based on those values. ACLAMO is a growing organization, but we have not lost the essence of why it was created. We are a service organization and we are all about human beings.

We all bring passion to our jobs. When I interview people, I tell them, “This is not your regular job. This has to be your mission in life. If this is not your mission then you do not belong at ACLAMO." It has to be part of your mission to serve other human beings. That is what makes our work full of passion and com-passion.

What do you wish people understood about the community you serve?

People have to understand that the Latino community is very diverse. Not everyone is an immigrant, and of course, not every immigrant is Latino, so we opened up our doors to anyone who needs us. This year we will serve between 15,000 and 18,000 people, from South Korea, India, and from anywhere!

I want people to get to know us and what we do. It’s very hard to articulate all that we do. I could talk forever about our programs. It’s even harder for people to grasp what our staff does.

One of the things that has been important to me is surrounding myself with people who have the same values that I hold. My people are my clients, and my board, and my amazing team. They all sacrifice so much to make it happen every day.

I am a visionary, and to work with me, you have to understand my vision for the organization and help me make it what it is.

What do you hope for the organization to achieve in the three years?

We take meeting the community where the need is seriously. We want to expand what we have to offer without jeopardizing the quality of the services we provide now.

For instance, we have a commercial kitchen, and we would love to develop the capacity to allow entrepreneurs to use it so they can sell food in compliance with health codes. It would give them the opportunity to create wealth for themselves and their families. So what we are always trying to do is give people the opportunities and the tools they need. That’s the dream.

Philadelphia-based performing artist? Adriana Linares, who plays the viola. She is Venezuelan-American, like me. She has an academy and performs all around the country. I met her years ago, and she always has space for doing concerts for our children and seniors.

Favorite place to eat: Puyero Venezuelan Flavor, a street food spot that serves authentic Venezuelan food. I also love Puerto Rican food and also Mexican food. I like all my restaurants on West Marshall Street in Norristown.

Favorite place to relax: My house. I just love being at home with my husband, and my dog, and my kids, and my parents, who live with me, too. We have a blended family: four kids, between my husband and me. All of us are going on vacation with the two grandkids. I am Abuelita!

Favorite Philadelphia small business? Some people love going shopping. I love going eating. Any Puerto Rican or Mexican food. There is a Peruvian place in South Philly. It’s called Brazas BBQ Chicken; they do the barbecue chicken Peruvian-style.

Favorite Philly sports team? Phillies, of course. In Venezuela, we play baseball. My husband loves the Eagles, so I grew to understand [football]. But I really love the Phillies.

You don’t know Philly until you’ve… visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art and run like Rocky up the steps! How can you not go to the museum? It’s the best! I have been to Europe and ours is the best art museum.

Why I love Philly and want to give back: I love Philly because I love that we have such an amazing diversity of people from all different backgrounds, interests, and cultures. I love that you can have different experiences in and around the city. You can go outside Philly and into the countryside and do so many different activities. I feel that I have been so privileged in my life and I always want to give back by investing my time and energy to provide that same opportunity to others. That is how you pay it forward. That has been my mission in life. I always say, I can’t believe I get paid to do that.

LUCY DANZIGER is a journalist, an author, and the former editor-in-chief of Self Magazine, Women’s Sports & Fitness, and The Beet.

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