PODER’s story began in January, 1997, in a rehabbed former boxing ring in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago as the Loyola Center, a small adult education center to serve the parents of children attending St. Procopius Elementary School and the first Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. The center was founded by PODER’s CEO Daniel P. Loftus, who oversaw its gradual expansion to include computer training, four levels of English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, and Spanish literacy.

In 2013, PODER launched its Oprima-1, LLC Call Center as a pipeline from English language acquisition to customer service training leading to the mainstream workforce. Due to the gradual gentrification of the Pilsen area and the shift of Chicago’s Latino immigrant communities further southwest, PODER opened its satellite on the second floor of Marquette Bank in the West Lawn neighborhood in 2014. Shortly after, two additional sites in the vicinity were added, at Catholic Charities in Gage Park in 2015 and at Metropolitan Family Services in Chicago Lawn in 2017. By 2016, PODER had reached another milestone, having served 10,000 students. Since then, PODER has enhanced its programs to serve as an immigrant integration center, with five levels of Integrated English and Workforce Development programs that include Customer Service training tied to an industry-recognized credential, Bilingual Insurance Licensing and Latinos in Finance, and digital literacy and financial literacy are incorporated into all of PODER’s programs.

Check out our timeline below…