The Creciendo Juntos – Growing Together web site is a bilingual clearinghouse of information and resources. Its purpose is to increase awareness among service providers about the local Latino population, and to share resources, facilitate networking, and in other ways enhance the capacity of service providers to respond to our ever increasing Spanish language residents. The web site began operation in April 2006. To visit a map of the site, click here.

Informing, educating and empowering is an overview about what the CJ website is, what it does, who uses it, and what needs it has. Click here to read the April 2008 document.

Sponsor – Piedmont Housing Alliance

Creciendo Juntos – Growing Together was organized and is being facilitated by the Piedmont Housing Alliance, and specifically by its Deputy Director of Operations, Peter Loach.

Peter was born and raised in Charlottesville and graduated from Charlottesville High School in 1983. According to Peter, “At that time there were very few Latinos in the area, and I never remember having a Latino classmate.” In college Peter began taking courses on Latin American politics, and he has a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida. For more than 15 years, he has studied and worked in Latin America, including nearly 7 years living there, most recently in El Salvador. His work in Latin America has focused on community development, housing, and environmental management. When he moved back to Charlottesville in 2004, Peter “was surprised by the large number of Latinos now living and working in the area. I realized quickly that the Piedmont Housing Alliance, like most agencies, was grappling with how to communicate with and do outreach to this growing population. That's when we decided to try and organize Creciendo Juntos - Growing Together to help Latinos and non-Latinos make connections.” In September 2006, Peter was appointed by Gov. Tim Kaine to the Virginia Latino Advisory Board. To contact Peter, write: peterl@piedmonthousing.org

Web Development

Rolando Méndez, a Salvadoran who is a second year student at UVa, is the webmaster for this site. Since coming to Charlottesville in August 2002, Rolando has offered IT support to a Latin American non-profit, Probidad (http://www.probidad.org), and among other volunteer efforts, he has worked for the Virginia Discovery Museum, the Democratic Party, and Creciendo Juntos – Growing Together. Since April 2003, Rolando has worked on semi-monthly Public Nights at the UVA McCormick Observatory, operating its telescope and speaking with guests about astronomical phenomena. For more information about Rolando, click here.

Linda Hemby is the web site coordinator, responsible for its development and content. She is a political sociologist who has lived in El Salvador for more than 20 years where she maintains a home and has citizenship. Between 1994 and 2004, she directed anti-corruption projects, including free press initiatives in 16 Spanish-speaking countries. She has also done sociological research, environmental assessments, lobbying, and training designs for international consulting firms; was an advisor to Latin American government officials, opposition political parties, labor unions and non-profits; and among other positions, was a professor at the University of El Salvador and a war-time human rights activist. In 2001 and 2003, web sites Linda coordinated were finalists for the international Betinho Prize, awarded to organizations that excel at using Internet to promote social justice.