The COVID-19 pandemic brought a challenging transition in Centro’s leadership and staff. As the number of staff declined, the need for services increased substantially.  Remaining faithful to the voiced concerns and needs of their clients, Centro leadership developed a plan to continue providing counseling and advocacy services during the pandemic. This online approach failed, however, because the clients typically lacked needed technology and internet access. Centro was left with a lone staff member (a bilingual advocate), and almost all funding was stopped.

In August 2022, the Centro Board (all members of the Latinx community) appointed a new Executive Director to lead Centro’s resurgence, Jackie Jaramillo. Jackie quickly established a plan to help return the organization to balance.  A large part of that plan was hiring AJS Consulting to assist with re-engaging foundations that had formally supported the organization and identifying and applying to new foundations. In late 2022, AJS developed a grants calendar to create a practical roadmap for applying to foundations and tracking results.  Since AJS started submitting grant applications for Centro in January 2023, we have now helped to secure over $1 million in grant funding.  This has allowed the organization to regain almost all of its formerly regular funders and attain many new ones.  It has also allowed Jackie, the Executive Director, to spend her time rebuilding her now staff of ten and restoring and expanding all of Centro’s programming in the Pikes Peak Region.