CJ Roundtable: January 12, 2012

This CJ Roundtable was facilitated by Martha Trujillo, Chair of Creciendo Juntos, and Michelle Oliva, CJ Program Coordinator, and . Thirty-two area service providers participated in the event, which took place on January 12, 2012.

Twice a year CJ offers Roundtable discussions to bring together local service providers, educators, non profits, faith based organizations, government agencies, businesses, and community members to promote the Latino-oriented initiatives and services they provide or are interested in starting. Roundtables give participants the opportunity to collaborate, build awareness, and support the projects that benefit the Latino population in and around Charlottesville, and they inform upcoming CJ workshop topics.

During this Roundtable, participants worked in small groups to address the following questions, then reported back to the large group:

I. Who We Represent. Introduce yourselves: Name, Organization and Your Specific Role. What do you and your organization do in support of area Latinos? What is your focus? Your program priorities?

II. Gaps/Needs or Challenges. What gaps or needs for programs or services do you see in serving the area’s Latino population? Challenges you face?

III. Collaboration within CJ Network. In what ways might collaboration with other organizations be helpful? Do you have specific examples of something that has worked in the past and could be developed further or applied to a new context? New ideas for better coordination, collaboration or sharing of info and/resources across your sector?

IV. Ideas for CJ Workshop Topics (or Other Programs) in 2012. Brainstorm ideas for specific workshop topics that might help address II. and/or III. above. Would you like to volunteer a few hours to help plan a 2012 workshop, organize a speaker, etc.? If so, please let us know. Thank you!

The Roundtable notes summarize participants’ responses and highlight common threads, suggestions, and community needs brought up in the discussion. The need for ongoing and increased outreach to publicize available resources and services was the number one theme echoed by all groups, both within the CJ network of service providers and with the Latino community at large. Groups presented a number of ideas that would help improve access to needed resources for Spanish speaking households including:

• Information sharing through social media and Spanish speaking referral/support volunteers
• Increased availability of interpreters, translation, and Spanish language materials, and
• Support for Latino families initially navigating the complex system of available resources

CJ will tailor its upcoming workshops in 2012 to respond to these ideas and thanks the participants of the Roundtable for their thoughtful feedback and ongoing commitment to serving the area’s Latino community.