Rendering of the new home for La Paz Chattanooga at 809 South Willow St.
La Paz Chattanooga announced the launch of their ‘Mi Casa es Tu Casa’ capital campaign at their ninth annual Sangria fundraiser event on Thursday.
The purpose of the campaign, ‘My House is your House’ in English, is to fund the remodeling of the vacant building at 809 South Willow St., previously the home of Fire Station #5 in the Highland Park neighborhood.
"As a member of the Latino community I can humbly say that our population adds to the beauty and diversity of Chattanooga," said La Paz Chattanooga Board Chair Marco Perez. "We have experienced tremendous growth in the last decade and are expected to continue to grow and positively contribute to our city's flavor. As our numbers multiply, so have the opportunities for La Paz Chattanooga to influence and support our community further in being a resource to us as well as to those who want to create positive relationships with Latinos in Chattanooga."
The building will serve as the new home for La Paz Chattanooga, the offices of which are currently located in a five-bedroom house at 1402 Bailey Ave.
The remodeled building with upgrades and a new floor plan will allow for an expansion in the services and programming that La Paz Chattanooga currently offers.
“More language support services will be available, allowing critical information to be accurately transferred between parents and teachers, patients and doctors, police and community members,” said Executive Director Stacy Johnson. "Thanks to to years of awareness building, La Paz receives many requests each week from local organizations asking for assistance in reaching the Latinx population. Larger space will allow us to host more meetings and training workshops, allowing us to assist more partners. Our new offices will provide meeting space and enable us to bring in more volunteers and experts.”
Cultural and language barriers along with traditional beliefs can keep Latinos from accessing health care such as birth control and STI testing. The new building will help in offering information through partners in a confidential, private setting, thus increases access.
"We invite you to join us in this by participating in the new vision and future of La Paz which will be taking place in a facility that is ready to support those needs for years to come," said Mr. Perez. "As such we are launching a campaign to help La Paz move and transition to our new location."
For more information about the campaign or to donate, visit www.micasachatt.org.
Rendering of the new home for La Paz Chattanooga at 809 South Willow St.