Diverse clients find help to thrive.

Byline: Andrea Damewood The Register-Guard

U n i t e d W a y

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of weekly profiles of agencies and programs supported by United Way of Lane County, to coincide with United Way's annual fundraising drive.

Maria came to the United States from Mexico with her husband and two children looking for a better life.

Instead, things only got worse. After six months, Maria's husband began to beat her regularly. He returned to Mexico, leaving her stranded. Maria was alone in an unfamiliar country, with two children, ages 6 and 9.

She spoke no English, had no job and had nowhere to turn.

Then a friend told her about Centro LatinoAmericano's Los Ninos program.

The program is known throughout the Latino community as the place where families with children 6 and younger can go in a crisis, Executive Director Jorge Navarro said.

Many Los Ninos clients are literally lost in translation - unable to navigate English forms and documents vital for everyday living in the United States.

Caseworker Scott Read said he spends much of his day with families who come to Los Ninos seeking help with interpreting.

"If you can't speak or read the language, it becomes very difficult," Read said. "A bill saying you owe $10 can be very confusing."

The four caseworkers assigned to Los Ninos meet clients at the Centro offices, Read said, but often end up joining them almost anywhere they need a voice: schools, the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services, legal offices or the Internal Revenue Service.

Caseworkers also refer families to additional community services and help provide other much-needed items, such as rent stipends or school supplies.

Navarro estimates that Latinos now make up nearly 15 percent of the Eugene-Springfield area's population. The number of Los Ninos clients - which averages about 15 daily - will only grow as the community expands, he said.

A common misconception is that illegal immigrants are a strain on local programs, he said. But the real problem is that Latinos are not accessing services because the current political climate makes them afraid to come to Centro.

"A lot of what we do is myth-busting," Navarro said. "We're helping people manage the systems so they can contribute to the community."

Navarro, who calls himself a "rookie executive," stepped in at Centro LatinoAmericano in June, after the organization nearly closed in October 2005.

He credits United Way's involvement, both financially and logistically, as a key factor in Centro's ability to continue its mission. United Way gave $50,878 this year for Los Ninos and a medical access program.

Along with linking clients to other United Way-funded programs, Centro has a "wrap-around services" policy, in which they often refer clients in one program to another in the center. A Los Ninos client, for example, may be recommended to the center's parenting classes or to its drug and alcohol treatment program, Navarro said.

And some clients, such as Maria, pass the help they receive onto others.

Los Ninos aided Maria in finding full-time employment, getting connected with Womenspace and enrolling her children in the Springfield school system.

Her case worker also helped her rent a two-bedroom apartment, where she now rents a room to another woman who was a victim of domestic abuse.

Seeing a client become self-sufficient and productive in their new country is a great reward for Navarro and the case workers.

`The diatribe is, `Oh they should go home,' ' he said. "But what people don't understand is that a lot of them are home."

UNITED WAY CAMPAIGN Campaign goal: $5 million Money raised as of Oct. 27: $472,874 Percentage of goal: 8 percent