Clínica Romero and SALEF: A Partnership for the Well-Being of the Community

The synergy between the two community organizations helps them better serve their populations.

Since its inception in 1995, the Salvadoran American Leadership and Educational Fund (SALEF) has worked to expand educational access for youth in the Pico-Union area by providing scholarships, youth leadership programs, citizenship services, computer labs, and other resources.

When she took over as Executive Director in 2017, Jocelyn Duarte felt she had to “carry the torch” lit by Carlos Vaquerano when he founded the organization.

Duarte initially joined SALEF to help grow its legal department after the organization received a grant to offer citizenship and naturalization services.

“My bigger goals were to create a space to provide more legal services and grow the organization,” said Duarte, who was born in Los Angeles to Guatemalan and Salvadoran parents. Since 2016, she has served as a part-time faculty member in the Central American and Transborder Studies Department at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Central American Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies. She later pursued a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles.

Duarte, who also teaches in the Chicana/o Studies Department at East Los Angeles Community College, recently earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership at California State University, Los Angeles.

Thirty years after its founding—and eight years after Duarte took the helm—the nonprofit continues to thrive and has become another “pillar of the community” alongside historic groups such as El Rescate, CARECEN, and Clínica Romero. SALEF works particularly closely with Clínica Romero through a Legal-Medical Partnership.

Thanks to grants from the California Wellness Foundation, patients at Clínica Romero who need help renewing DACA or TPS, or completing residency and citizenship applications, are referred to SALEF for assistance.

“They’re looking at the patient and seeing what they need,” says Duarte.

Sometimes, patients don’t have someone at home who can help them translate a letter or understand an important notice they’ve received in the mail. At SALEF, they can also get help applying for fee waivers for immigration filings, or find out whether they’re eligible for the language exceptions that allow them to take the U.S. citizenship test in Spanish.

And if they don’t have access to a computer, SALEF also provides a public computer lab.

“There’s a lot of synergy between us,” Duarte says of the collaboration with Clínica Romero.

While Clínica Romero may refer patients to SALEF, the relationship works both ways. SALEF also refers people to Clínica Romero, and sometimes staffs outreach tables at the Clínica’s six locations or conducts workshops there.

SALEF representatives also lend support at events such as “Showers of Hope,” where Clínica Romero provides mobile showers, food, and clothing every Friday morning at the Alvarado site. On occasion, SALEF even brings food to support the effort.

For Duarte, the work is about providing services that are effective, culturally relevant, and urgently needed. For instance, SALEF was the first organization to offer scholarships to undocumented students.

At its core, the group’s mission has always been to “remove barriers.”

“He [former Executive Director Carlos Vaquerano] wanted to make sure to provide access,” Duarte says.

She has continued that mission by expanding services to high school students—guiding them on what classes to take for college—and even bringing Central American Studies courses to SALEF.

Every year, the organization awards between 20 and 30 scholarships.

Preparing families

The organization has focused on preparing families for potential separations by holding in-person and virtual “Know Your Rights” workshops, and offering lessons in financial literacy and emergency planning.

“We educate everybody in the family, not just one person,” says Duarte, who held her first fundraiser in 4th grade for a shelter (raising $700) and organized her first women’s conference in 7th grade (her group sold cookies to raise $100 for the event).

“It’s always been about what’s right and your convictions. I’ve always known that no person is more valuable than another,” she says.

“Human rights are immigrant rights, and immigrant rights are human rights.”

SALEF’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

Annual Champions of Change Dinner

📅 October 9, 2025

https://www.salef.org/dinner