By Olivia Overman
A non-profit, non-partisan organization, the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Action (HOLA) was created in 2013 with the mission “to empower the Latino community through the development of leadership and education in the community.” The organization is the brainchild of Sean Connaughton. Then Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, Connaughton saw the need for an organization that represented the interests of the fast-growing Hispanic community in Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
Leaders from the Latino community were invited to help organize HOLA, and Vicky Castro, a Prince William County Public Schools social worker, and Carlos A. Castro, owner of the Todos Supermarket chain, were two of the first ones to step up.
Why HOLA?
Speaking about the acronym HOLA, Jose Pedro Guallar, HOLA’s program director, said, “It was Dick Murphy, former Prince William Public Library director, who came up with it. He used HOLA in relation to the Spanish meaning of the word “hola,” which means ‘hello’ or ‘hi.’ So it is a word for a greeting.”
The acronym perfectly represents what the organization wants to do, and that is “to be a connector and a bridge between the major sectors of Latino community life in Prince William and other cities and counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Today the HOLA board is made up of seven volunteer members: Carlos Castro, Vicky Castro, Katya Hernandez, Mary Foley, Olga I. Velazquez, Jason E. Hickman and Sindy Benavides, who serves as board chair. Guallar describes these members as “people who care about the Latino community and are trying to identify the community’s needs and the best actions to address them.”
Driven by a Mission
Members of HOLA are united by a commitment to implementing different projects during 2018 that will empower the Latino community in regard to two key issues: civic engagement, and education and leadership. In the area of civic engagement, HOLA, in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Virginia, is offering different voter registration events throughout the year. (The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization encouraging informed and active participation in government.)
Other projects include the creation of a local government committee by the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR) “to convene and collaborate on policy initiatives and direct actions that focus on different levels of government,” said Guallar. Collaborating with Virginia Civic Engagement Table
(VCET) to offer civic education workshops to the community is also in the plan for 2018.
In the area of education and leadership, HOLA plans to continue offering free workshops on different topics presented by guest speakers. These workshops are offered on a monthly basis in the conference room at Todos Supermarket in Woodbridge.
Here are some events proposed for upcoming months:
- April 3: Child Protection: Information and Guidelines.
- May 1: The Best Ways to Help Your Kids at School and A Summer Home Alone: Program & Activities for the Family
- June 5: Domestic Violence: Prevention and Resources
HOLA also works with Prince William County middle and high schools and plans to continue working with other organizations, including the Virginia Cooperative Extension and New Horizon, “to collaborate, develop and implement different mentoring, educational and prevention programs for students and their
families in 2018,” said Guallar.
Keeping Safety as a Priority
One of the problems some Latino families face is the inability to speak and understand English, which, in emergency circumstances, can be fatal. Recently, HOLA has spoken with emergency services professionals, such as firefighters, police officers and social workers, and all agreed that they have
difficulty when they assist in emergency or personal situations involving people who do not understand English.
To solve this problem, the Latino community and local government are collaborating to help the Latino community improve its English in the long-term; while in the short term, local institutions will increase programs to teach basic vocabulary and protocol in case of emergencies. For its part, HOLA is coordinating a community resource fair with Chief Barry M. Barnard of the PWC Police Department and Rebecca Barnes, public information officer at OWL Volunteer Fire Department, as well as other professionals from Prince William Social Services, to offer the Latino community much-needed
and important information. The goal is for these professionals to teach the community the strategies and protocol to follow in emergency situations and offer volunteer and employment opportunities to bilingual individuals.
Going Forward
In the last few years, HOLA has focused on increasing general awareness about health, civic engagement and access to higher education. Working with Freedom High School and Fred Lynn Middle School, as well as with local, regional and statewide organizations, HOLA will continue to build on its mission of
empowering and assisting the Latino community to continue to thrive and contribute to the community.
Find more information about HOLA at holaprincewilliam.org.
A graduate of American University’s School of Communication, Olivia Overman (ooverman@princewilliamliving.com) is a freelance writer for both online and print publications.
