‘ACLAMO is that trusted extra hand’
US Health, Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visits nonprofit
NORRISTOWN >> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra felt a sense of familiarity when he stepped inside ACLAMO’s facility in downtown Norristown Monday afternoon.
Becerra visited the Montgomery Countybased nonprofit April 24 during his stop through the Philadelphia area, promoting mental health initiatives backed by the Biden-Harris Administration.
“We know that there are families that still have a tough time making ends meet. ACLAMO is that trusted extra hand,” Becerra said. “It’s that backstop that keeps you from falling … ACLAMO and organizations like ACLAMO make it possible for families who come from very modest means to dream big. If not for themselves, then for their kids.”
ACLAMO specializes in providing education, health and other social services programs aimed to help the area’s Latinx community. Other initiatives include after school and summer curriculums for students in first through eighth grades. Kathy Jimenez, ACALMO’s academic program manager, said the nonprofit takes a “holistic” approach to care, aiming to “not only help academically but also mentally, while the parents are working.”
The organization has grown to employ 40 people, according to ACLAMO Executive Director and CEO Nelly Jimenez.
“This is what we do. This is what we all do. This is our lives,” Jimenez said.
Participating in a panel with U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5th Dist, ACLAMO representatives, advocates, and area residents, Becerra said he understood the impact all too well.
“I feel like like I’m at home,” he said. “Hearing the stories I’ve heard all the time I was growing up about how people worked very hard. They don’t know the system. They don’t speak the language. They try very hard,” he continued. … “I’m seeing my life play out here and I think it’s true.”
Panelists gave their remarks in English and Spanish during Monday’s “Mental and Behavioral Health Community Conversation” at ACLAMO’s facility, 512 W. Marshall St. Client participants in Monday’s forum also shared their personal stories in Spanish.
Sharing how “it’s always nice to be back in Norristown,” panelist Dr. Ala Stanford marveled at the assemblage of advocates to further assist a community in need. Stanford was appointed HHS regional director last year for Region 3, an area that encompasses Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
“It’s the place where a mom or dad feels comfortable knowing that their child is OK so that they can go out and continue to provide for their families, and everybody should have that, and that’s what ACLAMO represents,” Stanford said.
The need for access became a key priority during much of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Jimenez, who stressed that grass roots efforts were conducted to assist people across Montgomery County in trying times. She recalled how her agency was “working in the streets with people” in the early days of the global public health crisis. She noted the area’s high infection rate and how “people (were) losing jobs.”
ACLAMO kept lines of communication open with daily Facebook live broadcasts, according to Jimenez. Additionally, there were 129,628 pounds of food distributed, and more than $4.9 million for emergency rent and utility assistance allocated from September 2020 to October 2021, according to ACLAMO’s impact report.
COVID-19 vaccinations and contact tracing services are also provided. Becerra underscored the importance of maintaining those pandemic-related services for uninsured individuals following the end of the federal government’s COVID-19 public health emergency declaration on May 11.
On the subject of mental health, Becerra spotlighted the “988” campaign, which is a number that “anyone going through a mental health crisis” can call.
Becerra also spotlighted Stanford and commended her work in the regional leadership position, adding that Stanford is “our voice, and she is the boss here in Pennsylvania.”
Stanford stressed the need to take “stigma away from mental health in general,” adding those in need of assistance should not be afraid to seek it out.
Becerra reiterated the need for expanded access and mental health supports for “Latinos and other communities members” outlined in President Joe Biden’s “bipartisan unity agenda” and fiscal year 2024 budget. Scanlon agreed. She promised a “commitment with (the) administration to forge a path towards health equity.”
The congresswoman representing constituents in Chester, Delaware and Montgomery counties also spotlighted ACLAMO, advocating the nonprofit receive $2 million in community project funding in order to revamp the newly purchased community center. While federal funds aren’t guaranteed, the organization was nominated to be considered as part of the fiscal year 2024 budget.
Renovations are slated to include gaining compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as well as installing ramps, lifts, an elevator, a sprinkler system, and weatherizing other architectural features, according to Scanlon’s website.
“With the resources, there is a path forward, and there are folks that are proving every day around this table that there is a way to move forward for people, and providing that helping hand that folks need at some point, but things aren’t hopeless,” Scanlon said. “There’s a place to go, there’s resources that we can bring, we just need to do more of it.”
A Spanish word stuck out to Becerra during the Monday afternoon discussion: “ganas.” A word he said roughly translated to “desire,” but to him, it meant “gut, grit (and) gains, all together.” It was what he took away from hearing about the experiences ACLAMO’s clients face.
“If you’re gonna survive, and if your kids are going to do better than you —and my dad didn’t get past the sixth grade because he had to go to work, and my mom didn’t come to this country until she was 18 from Guadalajara, in Mexico— you’ve got to have ‘ganas’, and I feel ‘ganas’ all over this place,” he said.