» Cross Cultural Community Conversations Hispanic/Latino Coalition of Louisville: Providing a voice for the growing & increasingly diverse Hispanic Latino population in the Louisville Metro area.

Click on the link to download: COMPLETE REPORT

Cross Cultural Community Conversations:
Beginning the Dialogue to Understand the Strengths and Unmet Needs of the Hispanic / Latino Community in Louisville Metro

Report by M. Gabriela Alcalde, M.P.H.

Acknowledgements
The development and success of this project relied completely on the commitment and passion of numerous persons and organizations that gave of their time and talent. The project partners include the Louisville Metro Office for Women (OFW), the Hispanic / Latino Coalition (HLC), the South Jefferson Neighborhood Place, First Neighborhood Place, Saint Rita’s Church, Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD), University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work, Center for Women and Families, and the Al Dia newspaper.

South Jefferson Neighborhood Place provided the project with several volunteers who helped with childcare, toys, food and other important logistics. We would like to thank Polly Mayer, Sue Reid, Vilma Jones, Anita Black, Ken Black, Julie Moorman, Susan Martinez, Sarah Mayer, and Lisa Hall for their time and effort.

The Office for Women provided administrative and research support, served as facilitator of the women’s focus groups, and was the lead in proposal writing and the development and coordination of the project. We would like to thank Britney Ewing (Office for Women intern), Christine Owens (Office for Women Administrative Assistant), and Gabriela Alcalde (Office for Women Director).

The Hispanic / Latino Coalition provided volunteers for every aspect of the project, including facilitating the focus groups. We would like to thank all coalition members, Edgardo Mansilla, Julio Zayas, Karina Barillas, Gioconda Guerra, Daysha Palacio, Miguel Lagunas, Jose Neil Donis, Ellie Kerstetter, Gretchen Hunt, Gabriela Alcalde, Terry Singer, Maria Scharfenberger, Ben Ruiz, Loretta Estes, and Attica Scott.

Saint Rita’s Church provided us with the space for the focus groups and child care, and also coordinated the recruitment of participants. We would like to thank Yolanda Moore, Loredana Mazzo, Gioconda Guerra and Karina Barillas.

From the Kent School of Social Work we would like to thank Linda Bledsoe for her analysis of the family violence data for the LMPD.

From LMPD we would like to thank Denise Spratt, Lynn Hunt, and Mark Boehnlein for their support and commitment to the project.

From the Center for Women and Families, Karina Barillas and Gretchen Hunt provided support, information and resources for participants after the focus group sessions.
We are also grateful for the support received from Joanne Weis (Louisville Metro Human Services Department Director) and the Immigrant Human Services Task Force.

Finally and most importantly we would like to thank all the men and women focus group participants and their children for giving us their time and sharing their experiences, thoughts and feelings so that this project could be realized.

This project received funding from South Jefferson Neighborhood Place and First Neighborhood Place through a grant from the Community Partnership for the Protection of Children, the Louisville Metro Office for Women, and the Louisville Metro Police Department* .

* The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) provided funding for Dr. Bledsoe to perform an analysis of the family violence data collected from the focus groups. Dr. Bledsoe developed a report based on her findings that was submitted to LMPD.