El Centro is the oldest and largest program at Latino Memphis. El Centro’s work is two-fold: mission focused direct client services and collaborative community wide efforts towards that end.
This center provides information and referral services connecting clients with in-house services as well as external agencies. This allows us to serve their critical needs in the areas of health, justice, education and clerical assistance among many others. Each year we average over 7,000 client visits. We partner with over 50 local nonprofits, governmental agencies and service providers to ensure that these critical needs are met.
Latino Memphis seeks to ensure that Latinos are on a path to improved health and self-sufficiency. However, the majority of our clients are in extremely vulnerable situations and many who visit El Centro lack sufficient documentation and English language proficiency to access available services, and do not have the knowledge to reach out to alternative resources. The majority of our clients are women between the ages of 30-50, with 2-3 children, an equivalent of a middle school education and little to no English skills. Additionally, the rapid growth of this community has meant that regional nonprofits, healthcare providers and other social service agencies have struggled to keep up with the unique needs of this population. Latino Memphis works to bridge this gap and make meaningful services available to our community.