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The high
rates of Hispanic immigration
into the United States have been
newsworthy for many years. Chattanooga has been
a relatively recent destination,
but in the last few years
thousands of Hispanics have come
to work in our region. This
population has many immediate
needs: housing, employment,
education, healthcare, language
training, and an understanding
of how to live and work in our
culture. Our community has many
resources to meet those needs,
but somehow the needs and the
resources need to be linked. Providing this linkage
is the work of La Paz de Dios
(the peace of God).
In its
brief history, La Paz, as the
organization is widely known in
the city, has become an agency
that is trusted by Hispanics and
by the organizations that try to
serve them. In fact, there are
few, if any, other agencies that
provide the services offered by
La Paz to Hispanics and
Chattanooga organizations.
La Paz meets its mission, first
by attending to any immediate
humanitarian needs a person or
family may have, such as food,
clothing or shelter. But the
bulk of the organization's work
is in linking Hispanics to the
resources that are available in
Chattanooga and in linking those
resources and agencies to
Hispanics. La Paz attempts to
educate Hispanics about American
institutions, while at the same
time attempting to educate
non-Hispanic Americans about
life as an immigrant, addressing
the prejudices that may exist in
one group about the other.
The
office of La Paz de Dios is housed in
the St. Andrew's Center in the
heart of Chattanooga’s
inner-city; where Hispanics have
tended to take residence. Coming
to be known almost entirely by
word of mouth, calls for help
arrive either by foot traffic or
the telephone. La Paz
offers all its services
completely free of charge.
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