Promotores

Overview

The goal of the Promotores program is to develop community capacity for self-sufficiency by providing information, resources, and education in health, education, housing, workforce, financial literacy and others through home visits and presentations. We accomplish this by training and empowering selected potential leaders from our resident communities to become the “promotores” or “community connectors”. We provide them with GED, ESL, communication skills and other special trainings to improve their skills.
View the Promotores Activities
View the Promotores Yearbook 2008-2009

Resident Visits

Each Promotor/a conducts 40 home visits (platicas) annually with residents in the community where they live. These platicas lie at the heart of the Promotores project, and are interactive, peer-to-peer outreach sessions in which Promotores share information, model problem-solving skills, and make referrals to appropriate services so that language and cultural barriers do not prevent those who need assistance from finding it.

Current Promotores

In 2007-2008, we had 11 Promotores -- 3 in their 3rd year of the program, 3 in their 2nd, and 5 in their first. We expanded to 15 in 2008-2009 to add Promotores at our new properties, Sunset Gardens, Willow Park and Sierra West. Two of this year’s class will not be continuing — one because she got a better job, became over-income for our apartments and moved to Tigard. The other is leaving because he is going to take intensive ESL training at PCC and pursue a new ambition to become a teacher that he discovered in his work as a volunteer at our Homework Club at Montebello Apartments.

The Promotores also played a vital role in the success of the door-to-door Resident Survey resulting in 322 responses, and providing critical information to guide our program planning.

Promotores Advisory Board

The Promotores Advisory Board continues to meet quarterly, and we are very grateful for the support of these wonderful partners:

Mary Lewis, Oregon Employment Department
Kathleen O'Leary, WACO Dept. of Human Services
Ingrid Leiva, Oregon Human Development Corp.
Leda Garside, Salud!, Tuality Hospital
Annabel Vargas, Forest Grove School District
Dr. Mariam Baradar, Forest Grove School District
Teresa Rios, Multnomah County Health Dept.
Ignolia Duyck, Virginia Garcia Memorial Center

Bienestar Program Staff

Gracie Garcia, Program Services Manager
Juan Carlos Aguilera, Program Coordinator
Jorge Tello, Program Coordinator
Maria Moreno, Program Coordinator
View Staff Directory
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"What I realized this year is that Promotores is not a program for Bienestar — it is a critical part of the infrastructure that achieves our mission. The Promotores are our eyes, ears and arms into our communities, building trust and credibility for the organization so that we can truly serve our residents with programs, resources and tools that they need to move toward self-sufficiency," states Karen Shawcross, Bienestar Executive Director.

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