Founded in 1970, the United Community Center (UCC) is Milwaukee’s largest nonprofit community center organization and serves more than 18,000 people a year.
One of the people it served is its current CEO, Laura Gutiérrez, who went to the UCC as a kid when it was simply known as “The Spot.” She and her siblings, relatives, and neighbors benefitted from its many programs for people of all ages.
Gutiérrez returned to the UCC to serve in a few different roles before officially becoming the leader of the organization in 2020. Gutiérrez is featured in this month’s Milwaukee Magazine.
"As a kid, I came here, my mother would come here to learn English and at the same time, she needed a safe place for us to be. So my favorite programming, I have three sisters, at that point it was two [sisters,] we all did folkloric dancing, which was so cool," Gutiérrez recalls.
Gutiérrez graduated from Bruce Guadalupe Community School, which was a private Catholic school on the east side. Years later, when her cousin would tell her that Bruce Guadalupe's school system was looking for a science teacher, Gutiérrez would not have imagined that the school was now part of the UCC. She applied and was quickly hired by Dora Costa, who had previously hired Gutiérrez when she was 15 years old at UCC when it was "The Spot."
Gutiérrez left, completed more schooling, and returned as CEO during the COVID-19 pandemic. She faced many challenges, but Gutiérrez and her team understood that they needed to find a way to stay open because the majority of the community they serve didn't have the privilege to work remotely. If the school closed, parents would face the challenges of being unable to pay for living expenses.
After careful deliberation, they executed a plan to open safely. She says, "We were the only public school open in the city of Milwaukee when it came August of 2020 and people came to look at our model because they, too, wanted to reopen."
Gutiérrez says that many families, including her own, have received unwavering support from UCC and its schooling system. They are all now working professionals in the city of Milwaukee, which makes her reflect, "I wanted to make sure that all the children and people that come through our doors, [that they] have that same support."
"The mission of the United Community Center is to transform the lives of Hispanics, families, and individuals of all ages by providing the highest quality, comprehensive services and education," Gutiérrez explains. "Health, community development and cultural arts. It's a lot, but in essence what we're trying to do is to have an empowered and thriving Hispanic community ... To make sure that they are reaching their American dream."
Gutiérrez is the first woman and the first neighborhood native to lead this agency on Milwaukee's south side. When asked what these firsts meant to her, Gutiérrez says, "It's like coming home and knowing that you have to turn every rock, every stone, to make sure that the community continues to have the same opportunities that I was afforded. So that we can all succeed together."
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