2007 Toni Stone Innovative Initiative Award Recipient

Martin Sweeney's Nomination for Melanie Stephens

Executive Director, Centro Latino de Educacion Popular

Click here to download a copy of the Press Release.

Click here for the full list of the 2007 Award Nominees.

Melanie directs an organization located in the heart of the primarily immigrant, working class neighborhood of Pico-Union/Westlake in Los Angeles. For the past 16 years, Centro Latino has taught Spanish speaking immigrants who did not have the opportunity to attend school as children and who do not read or write in Spanish. Centro Latino is one of very few organizations focusing on meeting the educational needs of the 10-15% of Latino immigrants with little to no formal education. They begin teaching people to read and write in Spanish, then build to basic math, English as a Second Language and computer skills.

With Melanie’s leadership and perseverance, Centro Latino raised over $100,000 in grant funding to hire programmers and develop a unique computer-based Spanish literacy program. After extensive beta testing in house, Centro Latino released this program – LEAMOS (Let’s Read) – for other organizations’ use. Thirty schools, libraries and community organizations around the country currently use it. Centro Latino is currently gearing up for a large-scale literacy campaign that would motivate, train and support literate Spanish speakers to help their non-literate friends and family members learn to read and write. Without access to technology, most non-literate Spanish speakers will never have the opportunity to learn to read and write. Without literacy, they cannot readily take advantage of the capability and resources offered through technology. By working at this intersection of literacy and technology, Centro Latino provides a meaningful way for a very marginalized population to cross the digital and literacy divides simultaneously.

The LEAMOS program has enrolled 382 youth and adults since Centro Latino completed its development. Of these students, half were 15 to 35 years old and the other half were over 35. Sixty percent were women and 95% of students had children. Forty-one percent of students spoke an indigenous language – mostly Canjobal and Quiche – as their first language and learned oral Spanish as a second language. While impressive, the statistics do not begin to tell the whole story of the impact of this program. Learning to read and write is a meaningful experience at any age, but it is especially so for someone who is 20, 30, 50 or 80 years old. The process transforms their self-image and world view. It is transformative not only for individual learners but also for their families and communities.

Centro Latino is at the forefront of demonstrating how technology can be used effectively with immigrant youth and adults to develop essential basic skills. Because non-literate Spanish speakers are dispersed throughout the country, it is very difficult for traditional classroom-based programs to address their needs. As with the disability communities, technology can provide the needed bridge to the skills and opportunities this marginalized population needs. With Melanie’s leadership, Centro Latino is poised to become the premiere resource for literacy tools and information for Latino immigrants as well as for their family members, friends and communities across the U.S. Working collaboratively, Centro Latino is developing a hub of creative exchange and innovation that will inspire participation in the teaching and learning process. As an important source of technology access in many underserved communities, CTCs will benefit from learning about a new resource that they can use in their facilities and programs.