Core Strategies

History | Core Strategies | Theories of Change | Guiding values | The Vision

Leadership and Human Capital Development – To build human capital by providing culturally based education, skills development and service opportunities that prepare youth to become community leaders that contribute to the well-being of their families and to the social, economic and civic life of the community. It is central to our mission to enlist and prepare a continuum of intergenerational leaders – including children, youth, adults and elders- across the various aspects of our work to build community and advance society. We deliberately recruit, train and employ community workers who have experienced and overcome the challenges faced by youth today.

Community Economic Development – To promote economic advancement and self-sufficiency through community-based land development, the acquisition and management of property and business assets, education, job preparedness, skills building, providing access to new computer technologies and the creation of barrio enterprise zones that support entrepreneurial ventures, family and micro-business.

Civic Participation and Community Mobilization – To mobilize institutional, public and private assets in order to achieve equity of opportunity, resource access, health and well-being in the civic and community life of our barrios. We believe that effecting and instituting real change requires multi-sector involvement and collaboration.

Cultural Arts and Recreational Activities – To provide a central communal space for spiritual ceremony, the arts (including exhibits, music, danza, poetry, literature, crafts and storytelling) and other forms of cultural expression. We take care to nurture cultural expression in the daily life of the organization and community through religious and political holidays, recreational activities, rights of passage celebrations, commemorations and other cultural celebrations as a form of social cohesion and community building.

Coalition Building – To provide organizing support to communities across the country that have established Barrios Unidos chapters guided by the values, principles, and core strategies of the movement. Barrios Unidos works within multi-racial coalitions and alliances that advance common ground issues and social change strategies pertaining to violence prevention, criminal and juvenile justice, public health, human immigration policy and educational reform.