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All about Xiente: Major resource program helping families in West Kensington
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we are spotlighting Xiente, a program that's helping a lot of families in West Kensington, making sure families are successful and have the resources they need.
PHILADELPHIA - As Hispanic Heritage Month is about to wrap up, FOX29 News is showcasing Xiente, a major resource in the West Kensington community.
"It’s one of the big issues in Philadelphia, a lot of our children and youth are living in poverty," said Adamary Sosa the Vice President of Education at Xiente.
Sosa is trying to help change that in her home neighborhood of West Kensington.
"What we do here is predominantly work with low income families, families that are looking to move up their economic mobilities so we are an organization that works in a two-gen approach," said Sosa.
An approach that allows them to help educate, tutor, and mentor children of all ages, with education tools including after-school programs, mentorship, and even a mobile preschool program, which is the first of its kind on the East Coast.
"Giving the education that is of quality, that is equitable, that we say, ‘hey we believe in you, we are going to give you these tools to move forward’," said Sosa.
The program doesn’t just stop with the kids, it helps adults, with classes on financial literacy, housing counseling, and social services.
All with the goal of creating a path to take people from poverty to prosperity, something they’ve been doing for more than 40 years in the historically strong Latino community of West Kensington.
"Back in the day this area was predominantly Puerto Rican. What happened was they came from the Spring Garden section, the Northern Liberties section, and when that area started getting gentrified they were pushed into this area," said Sosa.
Sosa says as the area continues to quickly gentrify, they’re trying to continue to help their community that still remains in the area, and give them a chance to succeed and continue to keep the culture in the community alive.
"How do we slow it down, how do we retain the culture and the identity of this community, which is why we have a dual language immersion program here, because we want to keep the culture and the language alive. Why do we have our team services and immersing them in culture arts, all these things, because we want to up-bring the community and unify this community," said Sosa.
One of the new programs Xiente is rolling out in the coming months is affordable housing units that they will rent out to families at lower than market rates, to ensure they are giving people the opportunity to go from poverty to prosperity.