Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Belisa Urbina. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Belisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I think that one of our defining moments was the decision we made early on March 2020 to keep our doors open for in-person services in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic. That made Ser Familia one of the only 18% of non-profits in the US that stayed open in-person during the emergency. My main concern was to keep our staff safe, which we did with zero outbreaks in our facilities during this past 3 years. We did many things to make our staff feel safe and understand that we were taking care of them. This included calls from our board members to each staff member to make sure they were ok and adding fully paid-for health insurance for all employees.

With this decision we became a lifeline for our Latino families. Latinos were the firsts to be affected by the Pandemic because of the industries many of they work in were affected immediately and for a long time (i.e. restaurants, hotels, etc.). Ser Familia became the place to come for all sorts of need that included our traditional services and new ones that came about, as an example food distribution, rental assistance and much more. The decision put us in a path that has allowed us to double in size in 3 years.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Ser Familia is a non-profit in Georgia that has the mission to offer preventive family services and equip Latinos with the tools, resources, and skills they need to move from crisis to thriving. We provide coordinated family, social and mental health services to Latinos, using an appropriate cultural and linguistic lens.

My husband Miguel and I founded Ser Familia in 2001, with the desire to strengthen Latino couples and families in an effort to address the lack of resources for Latinos across the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It was our personal passion to help other couples and families who were struggling with emotionally and communication issues just like another organization had helped us years before during our own personal struggles as a couple.

What started as a couples’ program grew exponentially to what is now the largest Latino organization in Georgia, serving over 7,000 clients every year in 5 centers in the metro regions.

Our services offering also grew tremendously to now include among others:
– Parenting Classes
– Workshops for Couples
– Strengthening Families Program
– Domestic Violence Victims Services
– Mental Health Services (individual and group)
– Emergency Financial Assistance
– Case Management
– Afterschool tutoring and Enrichment
– Programs for Seniors
– English Classes

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

I would choose to do what I do without a doubt! This work is very challenging but so rewarding. We meet most of our clients at their worst time of their lives, a divorce, severe depression, after an instance of domestic violence or sexual assault and we are truly there for them. We stick with our clients until they are truly thriving. Seeing those transformations is so wonderful!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Not many people believed that we could be successful. There were not many success stories of a couple taking a small grass roots program that started in a church and making it into a secular non-profit. Add to that the fact that we serve a minority community who is 12% of the population in Georgia but receives less than 1% of the philanthropic money to tend to the needs of that group. The obstacles were enormous but every step of the way our passion was renewed as we knew that we were making a huge difference for these families.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.serfamilia.org
• Instagram: @serfamiliainc
• Facebook: @serfamiliainc
• Linkedin: @serfamiliainc
• Youtube: @serfamiliainc

Image Credits
Ser Familia, Inc.