April 27th, 2017 marks 40 years of innovative education and career programing at Instituto del Progreso Latino, a leader in Chicago’s Latino community and the broader workforce development, adult education, and youth education spaces. Today, there are 32 million low-skilled adults in the United States and for forty years Instituto has been an engine of opportunity for many Chicagoans in this position who are typically underserved by education systems. Instituto was established as a non-profit in 1977, beginning much how it continues today, by creating a variety of new services for learners with untapped potential. At its founding, Instituto leaders partnered with St. Mary’s Adult Alternative High School as an experiment to see if its adult high school model could be adapted to meet the needs of a Spanish-speaking, immigrant community. At the same time, Instituto leaders had successfully supported advocacy efforts to open more postal service positions to Latinos and began offering English and skill building courses to help community members enter the field and earn promising wages. “We are proud to celebrate this important milestone. This is 40 years of community members seeking our services and turning around and putting their new knowledge and skills to use making our community stronger. It is their impact which we celebrate today and we thank our many partners and supporters for their help in providing so many families the opportunity to reach their goals build greater stability” says Andrea Saenz, Chair of the Instituto Board of Directors. Instituto believes that any learner has potential to contribute to its community and offers an entry point for any skill level, beginning with elementary education for adults. If you are interested in learning more, visit www.InstitutoChicago.org, call 773-890-0055. You can also visit the organization, located at 2520 S. Western Ave.