La Luz Center: A Legacy

06.27.09 | By DFP in: Press Releases

By Noris Binet — La Luz Center is celebrating its twentieth birthday. Li Booker, a Latina woman, planted a seed in the ground of Sonoma with her Anglo friends, and today we have an amazing institution, imbedded at the core of our unfolding and transforming Latino community. It is very hard to find a Latino in this valley that has not been a part of La Luz Center in one way or another, even if they never visited the location. But in their minds they know that La Luz is there, just around the corner!  

Latinos feel that La Luz is a safe place where they can go in any kind of crisis or circumstance, and be heard, attended to and helped. They know they will find a friendly atmosphere where they can feel at home—a vital necessity for those who have left their families and villages to embark upon a new life, a process that doesn’t come without an emotional and psychological price.

La Luz can serve as a model to educate others about what is possible, that discrimination can be faced with action and creative responses, that people from separate backgrounds can work together to ensure that cultural and language bridges are the solutions for connecting diverse societies. Through its rich history, La Luz illustrates that a society thrives not only with tolerance for differences but by embracing other cultures and heritages, and demonstrating respect for every race, culture and social class.  ❧