Housing     Hispanic Public Safety     Public Leadership    Advocacy-Organizing

Welcome to our programs page. Here you will discover just how Puentes goes about fulfilling its mission of creating assets and access for the Latino community of the Greater New Orleans area.  In just a few initial months, we have already launched some very exciting and important efforts, both in partnership with other organizations and on our own.  Each program, while specifically focused on a target sector of community development, is intricately tied to the organization's overall vision of creating a thriving international city that provides all with access to opportunities to learn, grow, lead, develop and become economically viable as a community member of the New Orleans region. As you browse our list of programs below, we welcome you to learn more by clicking each active link, which will take you directly to each program's page.

LatiNola is our civic engagement program.  Through LatiNola we provide volunteer opportunities, conduct voter education and registration, provide leadership growth opportunities, organize special information events, and much more.  Learn about this program by clicking on the LatiNola logo.

Our Housing Program  

Through our housing program, Puentes currently offers homebuyer training courses in Spanish throughout the year and provides housing counseling and credit review services through our partner, Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Greater New Orleans. As Puentes moves forward and grows, it aspires to also become an affordable housing developer.  Currently, Puentes is exploring potential opportunities and developing strategies for its first step into this arena of work.  Please visit our housing program page to learn more about our homebuyer training program.

Our Hispanic Public Safety Initiative

In partnership with the Hispanic Apostolate Community Services Catholic Charities and the New Orleans Police Department, and with support from Baptist Community Ministries and the United Way of Greater New Orleans, Puentes has developed a public safety initiative aimed at improving relations between local law enforcement and the Latino community.  Visit our Hispanic Public Safety Initiative page to learn more about our efforts under this intiative.

Public Leadership

In the winter of 2008, with support from Common Good, Puentes initiated a public leadership training course in which private citizens began to receive training on public participation.  This leadership training has as its goal the creation of public leaders who can serve on a volunteer basis with Puentes in negotiating with power brokers in our communities on issues that are of importance to the Latino community.  The first pilot class is currently completing the course and will be ready to engage in public life by early 2009.  In the meantime, Puentes is looking at how to continue this program and offer subsequent classes to future leaders in our community.  Through this program, Puentes aspires to create a pool of actively engaged public leaders who are well prepared to work with and within the community and listen to concerns and address them, be they local, state, or federal. 

Advocacy and Community Organizing

The 2008 State of Louisiana Legislature created an environment of fear among many immigrant Latinos when several state legilators authored harmful anti-immigrant bills that attacked average citizens for being good community members. Puentes quickly joined in the effort to combat these bills and, with its partners, experienced a small victory when the legislative session closed without allowing a single anti-immigrant bill to make it to the governor's desk.  While alreay in planning, this episode reminded Puentes of the importance of developing a strong advocacy and community organizing arm that could play a role in mobilizing against such harmful legislation in the coming years.  As such we have begun this work through our leadership class, our LatiNola events, and our active partnership in advocacy coalitions, such as Common Good, the Language Access Coalition and the Equity and Inclusion Campaign.