Sacred Heart Center: How Culturally Informed Care and Community Support Strengthen the Latine Community
Throughout the summer, Robins Foundation’s summer intern, Annaliese Santana, interviewed eight inspiring community leaders as part of the Foundation’s “Partner Spotlight” initiative. This new initiative provides a platform for grantees to highlight their important work in early childhood development and for Robins Foundation to recognize the incredible efforts and successes of our partners.
For her second article, Annaliese interviewed members of the inspiring team at Sacred Heart Center: Tanya Gonzalez (Executive Director), Lance Lambert (Youth Programs Coordinator), and Nora Monterrosa (Parenting Program Facilitator).
Sacred Heart Center is currently serving between 18,000-20,000 people in the Latino community. Each semester, the Center’s early childhood development programs serve about 60 young learners and 7-12 mothers. In this interview, Tanya, Lance, and Nora provided fascinating insights on the importance of culturally informed care, social-emotional learning, and community support in advancing early childhood development.
Can you talk about, at the high level, what Sacred Heart Center does?
Tanya Gonzalez
Sacred Heart Center’s main goal is to connect Latino families with tools to thrive and flourish. The Center was launched in 1990. Between 1990-2011, the Center served and accompanied marginalized communities. In 2011, we shifted our focus to the emerging Latino community in Richmond. Depending on available resources, we currently offer 17 diverse programs in three broad categories: higher education, employment, and financial stability. Today, we focus on assisting children, but we also offer wraparound services that connect adults and families with assistance regarding their health, employment, immigration status, tax preparation, etc. In addition to our wraparound services, the Center also operates an in-house food bank.
Sacred Heart Center has two programs that advance early childhood development, Abriendo Puertas (Opening Doors) and Pasitos Exitos (Successful Steps). What do those programs do?
Nora Monterrosa
Abriendo Puertas is a parenting program designed for Latina mothers who care for children aged zero to five. In this program, we provide mothers with tools that advance their child’s development.
This program uses a popular education model that honors Latin American culture. We include traditions, rituals, historical, and cultural activities that moms can transmit to their children. The main goal of Abriendo Puertas is to empower Latina mothers. We want our mothers to understand that they have everything they need inside of them- they already have the knowledge and skills to thrive as parents. This program just provides them with tools and empowers mothers to use them.
Lance Lambert
At Pasitos Exitos, we work with children aged 18 months to four years old. In this program, we reinforce cultural empowerment, cultural differences, speaking in Spanish, and learning English as well. Pasitos also offers social-emotional learning; the kids learn about self expression, being kind to themselves, and staying healthy. In preparation for kindergarten, we also do crafts and activities with the children.
We also help young children achieve early developmental goals, such as fine motor skills. When resources are available, Pasitos offers clinics once or twice every semester. These clinics offer physical examinations to ensure our kids are reaching their developmental milestones before kindergarten.
This specific program is facilitated by Isabel Fuenmayor, who works closely with Nora. Isabel will share what the children are learning with the mothers in Abriendo Puertas and the mothers are encouraged to use the tools Nora has given them. I also want to mention that Nora does such an incredible job with Abriendo Puertas and many of the mothers she works with have become volunteers or program leaders at the Center.
Tanya Gonzalez
Robins Foundation actually funds these two programs, which occur simultaneously. Meaning, mothers are in Abriendo Puertas while their young children are in Pasitos at the same time.
Can you discuss the community that you serve and the unmet needs of that community?
Tanya Gonzalez
There are several ways to label the Latino community, but we are not a monolith. We’re many communities. According to the Census, there are currently about 85,000 people in Richmond that identify as Hispanic or Latino. In this group, people come from several different countries of origin.
With this in mind, the Center understands there is a complexity of needs. At the Center, we predominantly work with immigrant-headed households. Within these households, there are often people with different immigration statuses; we may have some family members that are U.S. citizens, some that have a different kind of status, and some that are undocumented.
I also want to address how the Latino community was deeply impacted by the pandemic. During the first year and a half of the pandemic, the positivity rate of COVID among the general population was about 15%. For the Latino population, their positivity rate was 60% during that same time period. So, when we consider our life coming out of the pandemic and consider challenges we’re all facing, it is important to remember that these challenges are exponential for our immigrant communities; especially when you layer on potential language, digital, or literacy barriers they may experience. That is why Sacred Heart Center and programs like ours are so critical.
What are some of the specific challenges that the community you work with faces?
Nora Monterrosa
The community we’re serving is extensive, and I have the honor of working primarily with moms from different countries in Central America, and Mexico and Peru. I have the privilege of listening to their lived experiences, the doubts that they may face as women, and challenges they’re navigating as mothers. One challenge they often talk about is their experience navigating U.S. culture.
Lance Lambert
Sometimes, obtaining resources that are quite available to the public can be hard to navigate for some people in the Latino community. Every family we work with has a different level of education and comes from different cultural contexts. So, certain information can be hard to understand, even when it is communicated in Spanish. With this in mind, the Center helps families find resources and is a resource for them as well.
What do you wish more people understood about the community that you serve and the work that you do?
Tanya Gonzalez
In particular, I want to talk about immigration, which is very polarizing and polemic. I want people to understand that immigration is a very complex issue, it’s not a binary issue. At the Center, we do serve everyone regardless of their immigration status because, at the end of the day, we have human beings in our city that want to be a vibrant part of our Richmond community. I’m so proud that Sacred Heart Center is helping families do that.
Nora Monterrosa
At Sacred Heart Center, we’re helpers. We provide lots of different services, but also we’re providing support to families. I remember a conversation among the moms that I was working with. They were saying, “Wow, there’s so much here that is offered. We didn’t realize this before.” And they said that they would spread the word out in the community about what is happening here. So, I want the larger community to know that we’re here to help.
Can you talk about how your programs have improved the lives of the young children in the Latino community?
Lance Lambert
Every day we see the kids learning more about themselves, their culture, and their language. I think that’s invaluable. The kids are also gaining friendships. The children we work with may be in the U.S for years before they’ve come to our programs, or they may have just arrived, but they’re able to communicate and learn and grow a community for themselves.
Nora Monterrosa
The mothers in Abriendo Puertas grow and use the tools that are provided to them to continue supporting themselves and their children.
Robins Foundation has partnered with you all since 1999. Can you please talk about how that relationship has flourished throughout the years?
Tanya Gonzalez
Robins Foundation has provided critical support to everything that you’ve heard today. When I first joined Sacred Heart Center as the Executive Director, Robins Foundation was funding all of our youth programs. In fact, the Foundation’s funding allowed us to bring back certain programs these last few years.
When the pandemic started, we had to pause the Abriendo Puertas program. When Robins Foundation shifted its focus to early childhood education, the Center decided to bring this program back. It was so beautiful to reinstate programs like Abriendo Puertas, which showcase the strengths and protective factors of Latino culture. I can’t thank the Foundation enough.
For more information on the essential work done at the Sacred Heart Center, please click this link: https://shcrichmond.org/
