Adelante’s mission is to empower Hispanic/Latino youth to achieve their dreams and contribute as creative and educated world citizens.

Over the last decade, our Latinx student population in Louisville has increased by more than 300%. These students represent the fastest-growing demographic in Jefferson County and will become the driving force in our city’s long-term economic health and cultural vibrancy in the coming years. The success of our welcoming city will be closely tied to the success and well-being of our diverse Latinx community; we must ensure these students have every opportunity and resource they need to succeed.

Adelante Hispanic Achievers (AHA) was created specifically to support and empower these individuals, Louisville’s Latinx youth and their families, helping them succeed in four critical areas of development: personal, social, cultural, and educational. AHA was founded in January 2004 by former JCPS school board chair Stephen Imhoff and a core of community leaders who shared the belief that, with resources and guidance, every Latinx student could achieve her dreams.

Prior to the pandemic, during 2018, AHA offered six, free of charge, weekly programs: Mentoring & Enrichment, After School Tutoring, and College Corps. During COVID and lock-down, the facility closed and programming took place via the internet with smart phones, Chromebooks and personal computers.  All ways possible were used to keep AHA Achievers engaged and provide families with meaningful community support.

AHA has seen an increase in student enrollment and participation in all available programs after the COVID-19 pandemic. 100% in person programming became available in the fall of 2022 allowing us to welcome 83 students by the beginning of 2023 and increase enrollment to 90 students by the beginning of the fall semester.

Throughout its history, AHA has carefully tracked Achiever progress in educational preparedness, career exploration, community service, cultural awareness and more. In Louisville, AHA is uniquely chartered to support this level of Latinx student success.

AHA defines success as participants becoming college/career ready by stating or claiming personal goals and then working to make progress toward those goals. Through AHA, Achievers are connected to higher education (technical or degreed) opportunities, assisted to secure financial aid, and are surrounded by adult mentors who provide support, accountability and help with barriers. Since 2005, we have served over 1,023 Achievers and families. Since 2012, 13 Senior cohorts graduated by successfully completing the Mentoring and Enrichment program. 

Included among that initial group of Louisville leaders was Adelante’s founding Executive Director, Mara Maldonado. In 2005, Mara volunteered to lead our first program, a Mentoring & Enrichment program for 25 middle school students two Saturday mornings every month. As our first ED, Mara worked tirelessly to recruit students and families, create our program curriculum, and secure crucial funding and community support. From there, Adelante grew in direct response to the needs and desires of our Achievers and families. Mara soon began offering our Saturday program every weekend, added an After School Tutoring program to support students’ academic growth, and continued building partnerships with JCPS and other community organizations to offer our Achievers an engaging range of resources and opportunities.

Mara expanded Adelante from that fledgling group of 25 students to serve 135 students from 6th – 12th grade across six programs every week, making a positive and lasting impact in the lives of over 600 Latinx youth. During this period, Adelante received several awards: a 2012 Pyramid of Excellence award from Louisville’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence, a 2015 national “Bright Spot in Hispanic Education” designation from the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and recognition in 2017 and 2018 as a national “Example of Excelencia” Finalist from Excelencia in Education. For 12 years, Adelante steadily advanced under Mara’s leadership establishing a standard of excellence that benefited our community and made a lasting impact in the lives of so many Achievers and families.

To learn more, or to get involved, visit our programs page.