Laura González ’10

Laura GonzálezLaura González is a Youth Organizer for Centro Presente in Boston. Centro Presente a member-driven, statewide Latin American immigrant organization dedicated to the self-determination and self-sufficiency of the Latin American immigrant community of Massachusetts. Centro Presente struggles for immigrant rights and for economic and social justice. Through the integration of community organizing, leadership development and basic services, Centro Presente strives to give our members voice and build community power.

I am the proud Youth Organizer for the program Pintamos Nuestro Mundo/We Paint Our World (PNM), which was founded in 1997 as a bicultural, bilingual space for Latino immigrant youth between the ages of 11 and 18. The program offers the youth, many of whom are undocumented, a democratic space to develop the skills to find their own voices and leadership. PNM works with young people in a number of ways, including extensive outreach, ongoing backup to support youth activists in their communities and provides them with peer-based training and experiences that open up the concepts of youth power, critical thinking and organizing. PNM wants to build and support a community of Latino youth working to defend immigrant rights and to inspire and empower a new generation to act for meaningful social change and economic justice. We understand the importance of having immigrant youth active in the decisions that impact their own destiny.