PASOs, a community-based organization hosted at the Arnold School of Public Health, has received a grant from the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina through its new Immigrant Families Initiative.

The award will enable PASOs to expand its leadership program, which empowers grassroots Latino leaders to educate their peers and build capacity of health and social service providers to respond to the maternal/child health and early education needs of the Latino population. With this grant, PASOs will be able to increase the number of Latino grassroots leaders in three South Carolina counties.

“PASOs helps the Latino community and service providers work together for strong and healthy families,” said Ms. Julie Smithwick, PASOs executive director.

“This grant program, just established this year, will enable PASOs to better meet the complex challenges of serving the Hispanic community. We are proud to be among the first six organizations to receive funding from such an important initiative.”

South Carolina ranks second in the nation in immigrant growth. Immigrants represent nearly 5 percent of South Carolina’s total population, with the majority coming from Latin America, followed by Asia and Europe.

“The foundation is pleased to announce this initiative in response to the growing need of immigrant families across the state of South Carolina,” said Mr. Tom Keith, the foundation’s president.

Read more: www.scpasos.org.