History
The idea of the Latino Advocacy and Leadership Association – Whatcom (LALA-W) began during a series of conversations with Family Resource Specialists from school districts throughout Whatcom County. They were expressing the need to support Latino families that went beyond what the Specialists were able to provide: finding employment, getting a high school equivalency diploma (GED), navigating immigration issues, garnering rental assistance, dealing with food insecurity, etc.
These Specialists, along with a small group of other Latino leaders, began dreaming about what it would take to develop a Latino Community Center as a place where referrals and direct services could be housed that would address pressing needs of the families and community.
Read more about the history of LALA - Whatcom
February 2020
In February 2020 at Whatcom Community College, we held our first community meeting and invited a variety of Latino leaders from throughout Whatcom County to attend. Over 40 individuals attended. The intention was to provide opportunities for convivo (connections), comunicación (listening), and comida (nourishment). It was a listening session to hear what representative members of the Latino community were seeing and hearing with respect to the needs of the broader Latino community. At the end, the participants asked to reconvene to keep the conversation going.
We had planned for a second convening, and then the COVID pandemic hit. Things were put on hold until we could see what exactly the post-COVID world would look like.
As the COVID began to slow down, many of those original family resource specialists, along with the small group of other representatives, met again and shared even greater concerns. At the same time, they revived the hope of another gathering of Latino leaders from throughout the County.
April 2023
In April 2023, we brought together over 80 Latino leaders to the Ferry terminal in Fairhaven. Using what we had learned in the first community gathering, we clustered the issues we’d heard about. We provided individuals an opportunity to add to the list of issues of concern and we invited the group to focus more fully on possible solutions. At the end of that session, we were asked, “Who are we?” We considered this an invitation to formalize ourselves as an organization. We invited those who attended to self-nominate if they were interested in being part of a steering committee.
The newly formed steering committee, including many who were involved in the initial planning events, met over several sessions during that next year. With the help and guidance of Dr. Veronica Velez as facilitator we drafted a vision, mission, and objectives statement. Looking at the objectives, we proposed the name Latino Advocacy and Leadership Association – Whatcom (LALA-W).
March 2024
In March 2024, over 50 individuals attended a meeting at Whatcom Community College. The group formally endorsed the development of the mission, vision, and objectives as well as affirming the name of the association. We began brainstorming what kinds of activities would advance the work of each of the four objectives.
To be able to act quickly, we sought fiscal sponsorship until we could become our own 501c3 (non-profit). The Steering Committee enthusiastically chose the Whatcom Community Foundation to be our fiscal sponsor.