Our Story

When Latinos Progresando opened its doors in 1998, it was led by founder and current Executive Director Luis Gutierrez who was, at the time, just 24 years old and working as a volunteer. The son of Mexican immigrants, Luis was born and raised in southwest Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood—the largest Mexican community in the Midwest.

With the goal to give families access to the resources they needed to thrive, LP opened its first bank account with just $200. Today LP is recognized as a community leader, reaching thousands of families every year: meeting immediate needs, putting our community’s story on center stage, investing in our next generation of leaders; and developing resources in our community through coalition building. LP also leads advocacy and policy efforts around issues impacting Chicago’s Mexican community.

Latinos Progresando moves to Little Village

LP moved to the east side of Chicago’s Little Village (the area known as Marshall Square) with the goal of instigating neighborhood transformation: building a culture of high expectations, developing and sustaining innovative service-delivery models and engendering an unmatched spirit of collaboration.

LP serves our community through an arts and outreach program, featuring the Teatro Americano ensemble; a scholarship fund; leadership development programs for youth, young professionals, and the nonprofit leaders in the 14-organization collaborative called the Marshall Square Resource Network; high-quality, affordable immigration legal services, including an initiative that reaches victims of domestic violence; and by convening key stakeholders to affect high-level changes with a real impact on the quality of life for families in our community.