Brendan Conlin wins 2020 Philadelphia Innovations Award

Congreso is proud to announce Brendan Conlin, Chief Programs Officer, won a 2020 Philadelphia Social Innovations Award in the Healthy Workforce Category! We are extremely proud of Brendan's hard work over the last several years to innovatively incorporate Human-Centered Design and Lean Experimentation methods across Congreso’s programs.

Back in December, Brendan was voted as a finalist in the Philadelphia Social Innovations Award competition which honors our region’s most passionate Social Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Changemakers whose work and social impact often gets unacknowledged throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. The winner was decided by public voting -  a special gracias to everyone who participated!

Interested in learning more about the innovative work happening inside Congreso? Head on over to our website!

Ana Tapia Recognized as Breastfeeding Advocate of the Year

Felicidades to Ana Tapia, Congreso’s Certified Breastfeeding Counselor, for receiving the Breastfeeding Advocate of the Year Award from the PA Resource Organization for Lactation Consultants (PRO-LC)!

Ana leads the Breastfeeding Support Program at Congreso and has been providing education and guidance for families on breastfeeding issues for nine years. “It is a great honor for me to receive this recognition. This job is very important to me because it gives me the opportunity to make a difference in the future of our children’s lives and their families.” Way to go, Ana! Pa’lante!

2020 Gala Latina - Explore Panama City, Panama!

Save the date for Congreso’s biggest event of the year! Support Congreso’s mission to enable individuals and families in predominantly Latino neighborhoods to achieve economic self-sufficiency and well-being while dancing the night away at this black-tie event.

When: Saturday | March 21st, 2020 | 6:30 PM

Where: The Bellevue Hotel | 200 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102

A special gracias to AmerisourceBergen for serving as our Premier Sponsor and PECO for serving as our Platinum Sponsor, along with Mr. Albert Morales, our Gala Honorary Chair and Chief Transformation Officer at AmerisourceBergen.

Please confirm your sponsorship level by Friday, February 21st, 2020. See sponsorship package below for more information.

Congreso and UnidosUS Tackle Health Equity,

Housing, and Financial Literacy

Health and Housing Roundtable in D.C.

Back in October, Ninoshka Montas, Social Worker at the Congreso Health Center, and Brendi Lopez, Congreso’s Housing Counseling Manager, had the opportunity to join 13 additional Unidos US affiliates in Washington D.C. for a two-day discussion about the social determinants of health and their intersection with health equity and housing. At the conclusion of the first UnidosUs Health and Housing Roundtable, Ninoshka walked away feeling impacted. “What I’m taking away is the important piece on how health and housing do have a connection, and how it is very important for people to have safe, secure and affordable housing, and how having that contributes to and affects their health overall in a holistic way,” said Ninoshka.

Read more about our staff’s experience in UnidosUs’s latest blog entry!

Expanding Financial Literacy in Our Communities

At the end of January, Congreso’s Housing Program met with UnidosUS to talk about implementing the new Family Empowerment Network Program. This initiative will refer patients from Congreso’s Health Center for financial coaching in efforts to drive financial literacy throughout our communities; support for opening a checking account, obtaining a credit report, and applying for a mortgage would become available for community residents who follow through with the program. Ninoshka Montas, who attended the UnidosUs Roundtable, will oversee patient referrals.

We’re proud to be an affiliate of UnidosUS and to count on their support of our mission! Stay tuned for more updates!