About CLLARO
Our Story
On March 13, 1964, Lena Archuleta, Charles Tafoya and Bernie Valdez joined the President and Executive Director of the United Fund to sign the first agreement in the nation between a United Fund (now Mile High United Way) and a Latino 501(c)(3) organization: the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA). LARASA was established to address the needs of Latinos in education, youth motivation, job development, training and employment, health and welfare, housing, and community resources.
LARASA's vision was to create an agency where people from all ethnic and racial groups could work together to improve the conditions under which Latinos lived and worked with the belief that when you improve the lives of Latinos, you improve the lives of all Coloradans. Over the years, the board of directors and staff operated a wide range of programs in response to needs identified by and for Latinos in the Denver Metro areas and, to a lesser extent, in other parts of Colorado.
Toward the end of the 20th century, LARASA became increasingly committed to training new generations of future leaders within the state's racial and ethnic minority communities. In 2007, LARASA changed its name and became the Colorado Latino Leadership, Advocacy, and Research Organization (CLLARO).
2025 Board Members
Chair - Fred Galves, Attorney, Pueblo
Vice-Chair - Celeste Montoya, Professor,University of Colorado, Boulder
Secretary - Elvis Rubio, City & County of Denver, Denver
Treasurer - Evan Smith-Acuña, Vice President, First American State Bank, Greenwood Village
Members: True Apodaca, Political Director, Service Employees International Union, Local 105, Denver
Uriel Berrum, ScholarLead.com Co-founder and CEO, Effect.org Co-founder,Denver
Cristal Corral Macias, Senior Vice President, FirstBank, Denver
Mike Cortés, President and CEO,CLLARO, Denver
Cristal Torres de Herrera, COO, DenverZoo Conservation Alliance, Denver
Iris Lozano, Attorney, Denver
Bruno J. Meli, Vice President, U.S.Bank, Denver
2024 Board Members
Mr.True Apodaca - Founder and Principal, True Strategies Colorado, Denver
Mr. Mark Cordova - President, Centennial Bolt, Denver
Mr.Mike Cortés, MSW, MPP, PhD - Scholar In Residence and Special Community Member, University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work
Ms.Cristal De Herrera - Attorney, Aviation, Denver
Ms.Iris Lozano - Attorney, Labor & Employment, Sherman and Howard, Denver
Mr.Bruno Meli - Vice President, U.S. Bank, Denver
Dr.Celeste Montoya - Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies, University of Colorado Boulder
Mr.Elvis Rubio - Government & Community Affairs Officer, Dept. of HousingStability, City and County of Denver
Empowering Latinos through many avenues.
CLLARO’s mission is to help Latino communities to empower themselves politically, socially, and economically, to strengthen Colorado.
We focus on public policy issues affecting Latinos across the State of Colorado.
Our strategies for doing so are
- A Capitol Fellowship Program that increases the number of Latino civic leaders who know how to influence legislation.
- Public policy advocacy in coalition with other advocates promoting Latino community interests in Colorado.
- Rigorous and credible research and analysis providing factual evidence about policy issues affecting vulnerable or oppressed Latino populations in Colorado.
CLLARO is uniquely positioned toinfluence policymakers and advocacy groups in Colorado by means of leadership development, advocacy, and research.
Colorado’s Latino community faces pressing civil and socioeconomic issues: the Latino achievement and wage gap, educational challenges, inadequate political representation, rising inflation and economic challenges, and more.
To us, there is no difference between the Latino immigrant of yesterday and the sixth-generation Latino of today. We all aspire to and should have the same opportunities as the rest of our fellow residents, and the future of CLLARO is promising.
The future of CLLARO is one where we proactively engage in partnerships with our communities and universities to again invest in high-quality research and policies, working alongside elected leaders and institutions to build a new agenda for Latino prosperity.
The future of CLLARO is bright, and we are looking to our history and our beginnings as LARASA to guide us.
Colorado’s Latino community is viably self-sufficient, yet with increased funding and representation, there are no limits to what we can collectively achieve.
CLLARO is dedicated to tirelessly advocating for our community. Thank you for your support!
Meet our Team
Our bilingual and bicultural staff are acutely aware of Colorado’s local Latino community. Get to know them!
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