Mitzvah Projects

About El Centro Hispano, Inc.:

Founded in 1974 in White Plains, El Centro Hispano’s mission is to assist, support and strengthen the Hispanic community; to help its members become self-sufficient; and to ease their transition into their new culture while maintaining and enriching their own. El Centro Hispano accomplishes this by offering a variety of programs and by presenting bilingual and cross-cultural activities throughout the year. Now in its 41th year, El Centro Hispano annually serves thousands of Hispanic residents of White Plains and Westchester County.

El Centro Hispano recognizes that education and training are the path to a better life for the Hispanic community. A partial list of programs include computer training in our 17-station Technology Center; school-based Early Literacy programs for K – 1st graders and an 8-week summer literacy program for 2nd and 3rd graders. We have developed a ground-breaking mentoring/tutoring program for sixth grade girls and boys (Mi Hermana/Hermano Mayor, or “My Older Sister/My Older Brother”), which pairs Hispanic and non-Hispanic college and high school students with the younger students to serve as role models and tutors. And we serve 7th – high school students with a Saturday Academy held at the computer lab of Stepinac High School.

Our scholarship program has awarded nearly $400,000 in scholarships to high school seniors since 1980.

In addition, our safety net services include housing and job referrals, translation services and community resource referrals to thousands of individuals every year. Finally we have a twice monthly food distribution in partnership with Food Bank for Westchester, and hold workshops and events of interest to our community.