Centro Hispano de Frederick: Hispanic Heritage Month Spotlight
By Suzanne Salichs, Executive Director
In celebration of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th to October 15th), we spotlight Centro Hispano de Frederick, a community organization located in Frederick, MD. This month’s blog contributor is Centro Hispano’s new Executive Director, Suzanne Salichs; she shares the following insight about the organization and the community they serve.
Centro Hispano de Frederick is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the Hispanic and low-English proficiency community for almost 20 years. Our mission is to assist these individuals to truly become a vibrant part of our community. We accomplish this by helping them to overcome language and cultural barriers—which allows them to more successfully integrate into our community. This creates new opportunities for individuals to share their passion and commitment through collective contributions of their work and talent.
These individuals and families, like so many others, seek employment/better employment, housing, education, social services, and small business development opportunities. They in turn provide hard work, passion, and can add great value to your business or organization.
Centro Hispano de Frederick has a track record of making a difference by creating life-changing opportunities for Latinx people and for the greater community. Since January of this year, we have served close to 2,000 clients through education, training, services, and referrals.
This year, Centro Hispano de Frederick began to focus more effort on workforce training and connecting individuals to meaningful careers. We are also exploring youth apprenticeships to train young workers in specific areas and skills and are developing a pipeline of talented, high-skilled workers through mentoring, career preparation, coaching, and other services. We are partnering with public and private organizations and businesses, including Frederick County Workforce Services, to create opportunities and connect individuals (adult and youth) to meaningful employment and workforce training.
When we support talented and passionate people and help them overcome cultural and language barriers, we can enhance and deepen our readily available workforce which strengthens the viability of our community and helps our community flourish. Their ultimate success is directly connected to their desire to become an integral part of our community—which is passionately displayed through their work ethic and zeal for their community.
How can we help your business and connect you with talented individuals that are ready to work? If you are interested in learning more about Centro Hispano de Frederick, partnering with us, holding a job fair at our center, or exploring other workforce opportunities, please contact me at ssalichs@centrohispanodefrederick.org or by calling (301) 668-6270. To learn more about CHDF, please visit our website.
I look forward to collaborations that connect employers and workforce members for mutually rewarding opportunities and also support career mobility and growth and helps build a better and stronger Frederick.