About Us

Mission, Values & Principles

Mission Statement
As an organization grounded in the Latino community, our mission is to build unity across all racial and economic sectors, to organize, empower, and defend our most vulnerable and marginalized populations and to bring justice, dignity, equality, and freedom to all the peoples of the world.

Vision
We envision a world free of oppression based on poverty, racism, sexism, sexual orientation, and discrimination of any kind that limits equal access to the resources that ensure a healthy and productive life in peace, love and harmony for all peoples and our future generations.

Principles
El Centro de la Raza “Familia” adopted twelve guiding principles in the fall of 1976, four years into our existence.

It was a defining moment in our organization’s history for it clarified what we were determined to become as a new and innovative organization born out of the violent worldwide struggle to create a better world.

In essence these twelve principles become our “constitution” and have been critical in guiding us through the agony and ecstasy of our 37 years.

They were adopted during a weekend statewide conference of students, farmworkers, academics, women, unemployed and organizers from Chicano/Latino, Black, Indian, Asian and White communities.

(A special “Gracias” is reserved for the leadership of the exiled Chilean community for their extraordinary clarity and political maturity reflected in these principles.)