Latinitas marks 15 years of media, tech training for girls and teenagers

Nonprofit’s effort at empowerment gains momentum, recognition.

After recently receiving a tech-focused city grant for marginalized communities, Latinitas co-founder and CEO Laura Donnelly looked around her East Austin office and felt proud. Latinitas, the nonprofit group she started 15 years ago to empower young girls, received the grant recognition alongside some bigger organizations and some of the community’s most respected nonprofits.

“I feel like we have arrived as an organization,” Donnelly said. Latinitas, which annually provides digital media and technology training to nearly 3,000 girls and teens across Texas, celebrates its 15th anniversary June 10 with a quinceañera-themed gala. “As an organization, we are ready for our (high) heels,” Donnelly said with a laugh. What began as an idea in a University of Texas classroom along

KELLY WEST / FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN 2016 Latinitas Chief Executive Officer Laura Donnelly helps Alexis Santos, 10, set up a blog during technology camp, for which one of the goals was to help girls build confidence.