Latin American House

Who we are

Latin American House (LAH) is a BAME organisation which supports disadvantaged Latin Americans and vulnerable Portuguese and Spanish speakers throughout London and nationwide. Given our location, based in Kilburn since 1983, we also support people from the local community, mostly from BAME backgrounds. Founded in the 80’s to support victims of political persecution from dictatorships in South America, we have always adapted to the growing and evolving needs of Latin American and other Spanish and Portuguese-speaking communities.

LAH aims to improve service users’ general welfare and access to education, employment, community bonding and leisure activities. Contributing to mental health and wellbeing enabling them to participate within their community and further inclusion into the United Kingdom. We also aim to contribute to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment, promoting knowledge, and understanding of the rich diversity of Latin American culture, and collaborating with other migrant and neighbour organisations.

Illustration by @drawnbytoya

Our culture and values

The charity does this directly by addressing the problems associated with life as a disadvantaged migrant in the UK such as isolation, exclusion, exploitation, language barriers, difficulty accessing services, immigration status and no recourse to public funds. In other to tackle these issues we organise our action around four pillars:

1. Legal & Social Advice Services, supporting through advice & casework in immigration law, advice in housing and employment law, debt advice through an external partner, and access to benefits and pensions.

2. Adult Education and Well-being, providing access to computers, IT and English classes, physical activities, and mental health support through counselling sessions, coaching and social workshops.

3. Bilingual nursery and Children and Young People projects, such as the Spanish Saturday School, providing lifelong skills as bilingualism from a young age.

4. Community and Cultural projects for the whole community and general audiences. Such as film screenings, language exchange groups, and arts and crafts activities.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

This policy sets out how Latin American House (LAH) approaches the principles of equality and diversity in employment and service delivery in accordance with the Equality Act 2010. LAH is committed to promoting diversity and promoting a culture that actively values difference and recognises that people from different backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights to the workplace and enhance the way we work.

LAH recognises, respects, and values diversity. This policy applies to all Trustees, staff, volunteers, management committee members, users and the general public.

LAH has this policy because it is a people-led organisation that must always ensure it meets the needs of the community through fair and appropriate employment and development of the people who work and volunteer for the organisation.  

LAH believes that all persons should have equal rights to recognition of their human dignity, and to have equal opportunities to be educated, to work, receive services and to participate in society. It is in the best interest of this organisation to recruit and develop the best people for our jobs from as wide and diverse a pool of talent as possible. 

LAH recognises that many people in our society experience discrimination. Discrimination is acting unfairly against a group or individual through exclusion, verbal comment, denigration, harassment, victimisation, a failure to appreciate needs or the assumption of such needs without consultation.

LAH is committed to the promotion of equal opportunities within the organisation, and affiliated organisations, through the way we manage the organisation and provide services to the community. In order to express this commitment, we develop, promote and maintain policies that will be conducive to the principles of fairness and equality in the workplace.

All forms of discrimination are unacceptable, regardless of whether there was any intention to discriminate or not. Employees, Board trustees and volunteers have a duty to cooperate with LAH to ensure that this policy is effective in ensuring equal opportunities and in preventing discrimination.