Who We Serve
Identity serves 10,000+ youth and families each year, benefiting 40,000 to 50,000 residents who live in high poverty areas of Montgomery County.
While our primary focus and expertise is on Latino youth and their families, with our partners, we serve all youth who need help.
The youth and families in our programs demonstrate tremendous resilience in the face of adversity, including:
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Disproportionate Adverse Childhood Experiences
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Unstable housing
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Lack of health insurance
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Food insecurity
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Language barriers
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Transportation barriers
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Intergenerational poverty
The majority of Identity parents are immigrants. They work to surmount challenges that directly impact their children’s ability to succeed in school and in life such as their own limited English and formal education, disproportionate childhood traumas and financial instability. Programs and services aim to help families overcome these challenges. Identity is dedicated to interrupting the intergenerational cycle of poverty. For more insights about those we serve, as well as program outcomes that demonstrate how we are making a difference and helping youth and families fulfill their highest potential, see our latest Annual Evaluation Report.
Our Community
Montgomery County, Maryland is home to some of the most diverse cities in the nation. Contributing to that cultural richness are the growing number of Latino youth and families. Their future is our future.
Identity works to improve the lives of Latino and other historically underserved youth and families in Montgomery County, where Latinos are projected to represent 25% of the county’s population by 2040 (Maryland Department of Planning, projections as of December 2020). The growth is even more dramatic among Latino youth, who now make up more than one-third of the county’s public school population.
Identity youth often face serious challenges, including poverty, inadequate health care and lack of parental supervision because their parents are working long hours or multiple jobs. These difficult life circumstances can lead to poor outcomes such as low academic achievement and truancy; teen parenthood; underemployment and unemployment — situations that severely limit young people’s options and opportunities.
At the same time, our Latino youth bring many strengths: love of family, pride in their culture, an eagerness to succeed and an impressive resilience to forge ahead in spite of the hardships they bear. Identity addresses challenges by building on such strengths and emphasizing skills that support the well-being of youth and families in all aspects of their lives.
Success Stories
We are very proud of each of these inspiring people, and we thank them for sharing their personal stories.
The youth served by Identity’s programs have typically endured situations and setbacks early in life that many adults would find overwhelming. The stories featured here bring some of those challenges to life. They also demonstrate how eager and determined our youth can be to create a better future for themselves and others — and how much they can achieve when we provide support, guidance and opportunities.
Part of the Identity family, then and now…
Over the years, a number of youth and parents who were once Identity clients later joined our staff. Explore their inspirational stories.