The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the nation’s oldest and largest direct-membership Hispanic advocacy organization. Established in 1929, LULAC has a history of commitment to the education of Hispanics and other minorities. LULAC’s initial efforts in education were to sponsor English language and citizenship classes in Hispanic communities, as well as to raise money for college scholarships. In the 1930’s and 40’s, LULAC challenged school segregation policies of southwestern school districts with several landmark lawsuits that set precedents cited in the Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. In the 1950’s, Texas LULAC councils established “La Escuelita de los Cuatrocientos” (The Little School of the 400), a pre-school language instruction program which eventually served as inspiration for the establishment of today’s federal Head Start program. [More about LULAC]
In 1968, a San Francisco LULAC council developed a financial aid and college admissions outreach program designed to assist academically gifted but disadvantaged, low-income youth gain admission to college. Based on the success of this program the LULAC National Office submitted a grant proposal in 1972 to provide these services on a national level. Upon notification of approval for funding, LULAC established LNESC as a separately incorporated entity with its own governing board and independent control of its programs. While LNESC was uniquely created to serve the needs of the Latino community, it maintains strict adherence to the organization’s policy of serving participants without regard to race, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Equal Opportunity for All.
LNESC
As of February 2020, LNESC has 16 Educational Service Centers located in various cities throughout the continental US and Puerto Rico. Please visit WWW.LNESC.ORG to learn more about our national office and our respective educational service centers as well as their services and programs.
LNESC-Kansas City
Our local LNESC has been serving the community for more than three decades. Annually, we serve more than 2,000 families in the Kansas City area and surrounding suburbs. Recent cutbacks in Federal funding of educational programs have led LNESC to become more reliant on local support to continue serving our community. Detailed descriptions of the programs we offer are provided in the Programs Section of our website.