Nonprofit Consulting: Centro Hispano’s Theory of Change
Centro Hispano aspires to a vision where Dane County, Wisconsin will be a community
where Latino families can aspire upward, to reach their personal goals and dreams because they
feel engaged and strengthened with the tools for success. Centro Hispano of Dane County
(Centro) was founded in 1983 by a group of community volunteers to meet the emergent needs
of Cuban refugees recently settled in Madison. However, as the Latino community in Dane
County grew and diversified over the years, so did Centro’s programs and services. In 2006,
Centro Hispano became the owner of an 18,000 square foot facility at 810 West Badger Road in
the heart of Madison’s south side. The agency now serves 2,500 + families and 6,000 +
individuals each year with 25 paid staff and an operational budget of over $1.5 million annually.
It’s three program areas are Empowering Youth, Strengthening Families, and Engaging the
Community.
The mission of Centro Hispano’s Empowering Youth programs are to prepare youth for a
brighter future. Their Escalera Program is an after-school program that provides services to
Latinos in grades 9-12 to foster economic mobility through increasing academic achievement,
promoting higher education and facilitating career planning. Their goal is to see Latino youth
prepared to succeed in life by finishing high school, post-secondary education, and engaging
positively in their communities. This ultimately allows Latino youth to reach their full potential
as their mission states. The components of the program include tutoring, career workshops, guest
speakers, resume building workshops, ACT/SAT prep and summer internships. The Escalera
program operates in East and West High School in Madison serving around 50 students each year
with 1 paid staff member and around 30 volunteers. The program area consumes about 4% of the
annual budget1 without bringing in any revenue directly, and therefore is a money sink program.
However, Escalera has low overhead costs and many of the services provided are done for free.
Thus, Nonprofit Consulting believes the losses to be minimal. 100% of Escalera students are
working and attending school and 100% have graduated from high school in the past 5 years.
1 Given that programs consume 56% of the annual budget and there are 14 programs, I divided
the budget evenly among them. Yet, this is most likely an overestimated percentage.
Because of those numbers, they seem to be successful in achieving their mission. However,
Centro Hispano should be doing a better job of addressing root causes. All this considered,
Nonprofit Consulting awards Centro Hispano’s Escalera program a 4 out of 5 in terms of their
mission impact.
Current of Theory of Change
Nonprofit Consulting has created a theory of change that articulates how Centro Hispano’s
current programs work to achieve their mission. This table lays out inputs, processes and results
that join together to make an ultimate impact.
Table 1.1 Current Theory of Change
Inputs Processes Results
Resources and Program Outputs Outcomes Ultimate Impact
Assumption Activities
Staff and Career # of internships
volunteers’ time preparation, Work experience
including # of students and access to
networking and employed after better jobs
Funding connecting with high school
employers
Time and Build a brighter
knowledge of College # of students future for latino
guest speakers preparation, continuing their youth
and partner including education
organizations scholarships More access to
better education
and opportunity
Assumption: Academic # of students
extra education is support, graduating high
enough for including school
students to tutoring
succeed in the
workplace
Focusing on Root Causes
Due to systemic racism, Latinos face economic disparities and lack access to the knowledge and
resources that would allow them to navigate complex legal, economic and educational systems2.
Latinos in Dane County are regularly exploited in the work place because of their race and/or
assumed work authorization status 3. This coupled with lack of access to power and knowledge to
advocate for themselves in the work place means that Latino workers are trapped at the bottom
of the wage scale and have no way of getting ahead. The kind of career preparation the Escalera
program provides for high schoolers is not enough to break this cycle. Centro may be setting up a
better foundation for these high schoolers, but are they ensuring job and financial security for
these students in the world they are about to enter into? The current systems in place
disproportionately disadvantage the Latino community and thus those systems themselves must
be challenged. Nonprofit Consulting recommends that Centro Hispano shift it’s energies towards
challenging these systems and strengthening avenues that allow Latinos to get ahead because it
could mean better job stability, reduction of disparities due to discrimination, and overall lasting
change that will be felt by the generations to come.
Understanding the Current Environment
Centro Hispano serves the Latino population of Dane Country whose population has doubled
from 3.4% in 2000 to 6.5% in 2018. This growing population is much younger than the average
population, with the largest age group of Latinos being 14 years and younger, compared to the
general population whose largest age group is 46-64 years. This means there will be an even
bigger demand for jobs than there already is as these young people join the work force.
In addition to this, there is a growing anti-immigrant rhetoric directed towards Latinos
(regardless of their immigration status) in this country under the current presidential party and
other political entities. With this comes a growing fear and sense of powerlessness for Latinos in
the workplace, and thus exploitation by employers becomes easier. Between the growing young
2 Latinos, Class, and the U. S. Political Economy by Rodolfo D. Torres and Adela de la Torre
3 Struggling for a Better Life by Workers Rights Center Of Madison
population and the growing xenophobic rhetoric, finding jobs is going to become more difficult
for Latinos. To fight this problem, other organizations are expanding their student support
programs to adults, as well incorporating more advocacy. The Council for the Spanish Speaking,
Inc. in Milwaukee is a great example of this work. They have an adult life-long learning institute
that offers adult enrichment courses, opportunities for pre-college preparation, and transition to
sustainable job training programs. They also advocate for more educational opportunities for
adults, research and funding for adult learning. Centro Hispano should follow their lead in
addressing root causes through expanding support to adults and engaging in advocacy.
Theory of Change to Address Root Causes
Nonprofit Consulting has created a table parallel to the one created above, but adds a program
that better addresses root causes. We suggest that Centro focus on developing their students into
leaders that can protect and advocate for themselves through a Worker’s Rights and Advocacy
training program. Centro Hispano should shift it’s energies towards addressing root causes
because this is the only true way to ensure a brighter future that is sustainable for Latino youth,
as their mission states.
Table 2.1 New Theory of Change
Inputs Processes Results
Resources and Program Activities Outputs Outcomes Ultimate Impact
Assumption
Staff and volunteers’ Career preparation, # of students with Financial and job
time including full-time security
networking and employment with
connecting with benefits
Funding employers Empowerment of
latino youth and Develop Latino
Workers’ Rights Length of adults in the leaders that can
Time and knowledge and advocacy employment workplace and create a brighter
of guest speakers training that is open community future for
and partner to adults themselves
organizations Breaking the cycle
of poverty and
Academic support # of students that disempowerment
Assumption: More through tutoring graduate high
education and school
knowledge is Better educated
enough to empower College preparation, Latino youth
Latinos to advocate including # of students that
for themselves scholarships graduate college
Design Choices:
Nonprofit Consulting has included an infographic of Centro’s theory of change in the Appendix.
This infographic is a useful tool that can be used to explain Centro Hispano’s logic model to
external, or even internal, audiences in a quick and easy way. Our visual design experts have
created a conventional design, meaning it’s easily readable and understandable. To do this, our
design experts incorporated implied line, color, proximity, hue and many other elements in a way
that is pleasing to the eye, demonstrates relationships and emphasizes what is important. Serif
fonts and San Serif fonts were used to differentiate between Centro Hispano’s words and
Nonprofit Consulting’s words. All of these moving pieces come together to create a message that
well encompasses the mission of Centro Hispano.
Appendix
