Lexington Hispanic Education Innitiative
(scroll down for the Youth Leadership Institude)

For the past two years we have been working on our new initiative “Iniciativa de Educación Hispana de Lexington” to promote education and leadership. We have united our efforts with local elementary schools to work with both parents and students on a monthly basis. This new initiative has incorporated more than 120 parents and more than 300 Latino students. We have been able to involve the parents in the educational system and helped them become part of the decision making process of their respective schools.
We provided educational materials such as notebooks, pencils, learning games, coloring books, crayons, and reading materials to more than 500 students. We averaged 43 parents and children in our school meetings including a meeting with 100 people in attendance. We have donated winter gloves for the children and provided more than 500 meals. We have worked with the Lexington Police Department, North Central AHEC, the YMCA, and many other organizations in this effort.
And this is only the beginning. We plan to expand our efforts to make our families more aware about education, to mentor children to become leaders, to teach parents and encourage them in their time of need. We understand and believe that education is the future of our community and AHU will make every effort to ensure that Latinos become part of our great future. See images

Lexington Youth Leadership Institude
Visit the Lideres Page

The Lexington Hispanic Association which is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing Latino children, youth, and parents opportunities for positive growth and development. During the past four years we have worked with Latino parents in several Fayette county schools to better involve them in the schools and thus enhance the opportunities for betterment of their children’s education. The parental involvement in the schools has, in turn, served to strengthen families and enhance their quality of life. 

The Youth Leadership Institute is the Lexington Hispanic Association’s (AHU) new initiative developed to help, encourage, and inspire our youth to become “Líderes” (“Leaders”) in their community.  Developing leaders is one of the single most important tasks for each generation. The inaugural class of participants will be made up of students from Winburn Middle School.  Funding is critical for this initiative to get off the ground and make an impact in our community.
 
The AHU Youth Leadership Institute will begin with an intensive week of activities from July 21 –25, including presentations and projects designed to foster and develop leadership skills in middle school-aged participants. The institute approaches leadership from the broadest perspective, building skills on a foundation of personal, community, and cultural identity.  During the second phase of this program, which will continue on a monthly basis from August through December, graduates will be exposed to multiple aspects of our community. Examples of this include a daylong visit to Frankfort, local college visits, attendance at sporting events, local horse farm visit, and attending cultural events, among others.

Students will examine where they are, where they came from, and where they can take their lives in the future. A spectrum of community partners, ranging from professionals, to corporate, social service and educational entities, ensures student exposure to a wide range of issues and factors impacting leadership at the personal, community, and regional levels.  It is our hope that exposing these students to Healthy role models will inspire them to become role models themselves. 

We are seeking your support to enable us to develop our program and help demonstrate its soundness and effectiveness to the city, community development agencies, and local private funding sources for future funding of the long-term program. Donate now!