Latino Development Organization of Washington

01/09/2026

UPDATE - TIME CHANGE: Our opening will be tomorrow, January 9th, at 1pm.

————-

Hola comunidad!

The LDO is excited to share that art from incarcerated folx at Twin Rivers Unit and Stafford Creek Correctional Center will be on display at the Salmon Creek Cafe in Burien! There are beautifully beaded earrings + medallions as well as amazing paintings and sketches.

There is a cute opening to the exhibit happening this Friday, January 9th, at 1pm. Come through and check out the art, chat with some of the LDO Sponsors and volunteers, and purchase a piece for your personal collection! You can also make a donation - all of which go back into supporting the amazing work happening within the Latino Development Organization.

If you are hungry, come early and enjoy some delicious food at Salmon Creek Cafe!!

01/06/2026

Hola comunidad!

The LDO is excited to share that art from incarcerated folx at Twin Rivers Unit and Stafford Creek Correctional Center will be on display at the Salmon Creek Cafe in Burien! There are beautifully beaded earrings + medallions as well as amazing paintings and sketches.

There is a cute opening to the exhibit happening this Friday, January 9th, at 3pm. Come through and check out the art, chat with some of the LDO Sponsors and volunteers, and purchase a piece for your personal collection! You can also make a donation - all of which go back into supporting the amazing work happening within the Latino Development Organization.

If you are hungry, come early and enjoy some delicious food at Salmon Creek Cafe!!e

03/29/2025

¡LDO Solidarity Summit: Unidos Somos Fuertes fue increíble! ✊🏽🔥

This powerful event, led by LDO folx inside of Twin Rivers Unit at Monroe Correctional Complex, was full of deep connection, resilience, celebration, and a call to action. We witnessed amazing performances, inspiring speeches, impactful guest speakers, and breathtaking artwork that reflected the strength and beauty of our comunidad.

Together, we laughed, shared moments of deep vulnerability, and united with other prisoner-led groups—all with the shared commitment to uplifting and empowering our gente and being in solidarity with one another. This is more than an event; it’s a movement to deepen relationships and build a stronger future for our community.

🌟 Join us in supporting this vital work! Whether through donations, advocacy, or spreading the word, your support fuels the power of the LDO and community. Let’s keep building together! 💙 And let’s never forget our comunidad inside the prison walls. They are still here, still fighting, still part of us. Let’s continue to uplift their voices, stand in solidarity, and ensure they are never forgotten. Porque unidos, somos más fuertes. 🔥

06/19/2024

🌟 Hello LDO Community! 🌟

We are looking to grow our community of volunteers to support our Latino Development Organization (LDO) at Stafford Creek Correctional Center (SCCC) in Aberdeen, WA. Read on to learn more!

The LDO serves and works to achieve equity for all prisoners, with a focus on the Latinx community, by maximizing their educational, professional, and personal development opportunities. At SCCC, the group hopes to have classes focused on creative writing, personal finance, public speaking, spanish and english 101, basic mathematics, and trauma, to name just a few. The group has already started their Latino Mentorship Program (LaMP) with a number of paired mentors and mentees in areas of art, education, and many more!

Currently, our sponsors are only able to attend once a month - the second Saturday of each month from 6pm - 9pm. Our hope is that the group can meet once a week, to do the amazing work they plan to do - but we need more folx in community to help us volunteer.

A note from folx inside: In order for any group of incarcerated to meet in a class room setting for any class, they must have a sponsor accompanying them. We are asking is for you to volunteer your time so the rehabilitators can assist in rehabilitating others around them. To be a part of our community. Help us give these men a second chance to achieve their goals and to better themselves in this group.

If you are interested in learning more and becoming a volunteer, please send us a direct message!

Thank you,
LDO

01/13/2024

exciting art show alert! 🎨

join us for a wonderful exhibition at the nepantla art gallery, showcasing talented artists who take immense pride in their work and craft. the pieces were created and donated by ldo members from twin rivers unit at monroe correctional complex.

ldo is so excited and grateful to partner with nepantla, and to be able to share their art in community 🌟

09/25/2023

Hello Facebook Friends! We wanted to share with you an activity that the incarcerated men at TRU participant in at a recent LDO meeting called ‘Metaphor Dice.’ For this activity, groups of five would get together, roll three different six-sided dice that had various words that folx inside came up with. Whatever words the dice landed on, each group would use those words as a reference to create metaphors or express deep thoughts. It was a first for nearly everyone in the space. Sponsors who went inside said that the folx inside had an amazing experience, seeing people who don’t often have those spaces or opportunities to come together and create beautiful, deep, thought provoking words. Here are just a few from the group that the sponsors shared.

- My soul is restored when I see the dream of my ancestors legacy sparkle in my children’s eyes.

- I see my mother’s broken heart when I look in the mirror.

- My childhood vision buried my innocence by the river.

- My community destroys, reroutes, and restores our river of life.

Let us know what you think!!

08/22/2023

LDO IS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS

LDO is looking for additional volunteers interested in working with Latino men who are incarcerated at the Twin Rivers Unit (TRU) at the Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC).

We, in LDO, returned after the pandemic to work with LDO-affiliated men at TRU and are anxious to continue to support them to find ways to build their self-confidence, maintain self-esteem, and grow their minds and their spirits.

If you are 18 or over and are interested in helping us with Latine incarcerated individuals and can dedicate at least one evening per month at the prison, please send an email to [email protected] and we will guide you from there. It is an added benefit if you speak some Spanish, but it is not required.

03/10/2022

Russia's invasion of Ukraine screams as a violation of justice and human rights. It is historic.

Even though the killing of Ukrainians and the destruction of their property is happening thousands of miles away, we, the directors of the Latino Development Organization, wish to register our condemnation of Vladimir Putin and his government for perpetrating such a deplorable and criminal act.

We, of the LDO, may call for justice and humane treatment in Washington State prisons, especially at the Monroe Correctional Complex, but we also view Russia's actions as a horrible violation of the very same justice that we stand by. This is why we find it necessary to declare our denunciation of what Russia is doing even though it may be on the other side of the world.

We are aware of other inhumane situations (i.e., Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Cambodia) but this one can affect us more directly and in more ways than one.

We call on the friends of this LDO page to take conscience, raise their voices about Ukraine too and support humanitarian efforts on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

We also hope the situation doesn't mushroom into something bigger, all for a naked grab for more power. Men in power can be lethal.

03/10/2022

This is about an incarcerated individual's appreciation of people who come and visit and believe in them.

One of our LDO men at Monroe is finally getting out after a very long confinement.

His words remind us of how important it is to support someone who lands behind bars, especially family and friends. This person supported LDO activities significantly and so he refers to individuals on the outside who represent LDO. His words sent to Dale Sewall appear in quotation marks below.

"Let Anita, Carlos Gil, Elisa, Manuel, Lilly and Lupe know that I highly miss them and never forget the impact they've had on my change for the better. Also that I want to say thank u to all of them for believing in me. The system has a tendency to make us believe we are nothing, nobodies, hopeless, but they (meaning all of you) treated me otherwise, gave me hope."

02/13/2021

On February 9, Carlos Gil, LDO President, received from Daniel Hernandez of the Mexican Consulate, boxes containing teaching manuals for the PLAZA COMUNITARIA program. This is LDO's effort to prepare Latino men at the Monroe Correctional Complex to complete their K-12 diplomas. We hope to begin the Plaza program as soon as MCC opens once again.

02/05/2021

A fitting time to pass this on . . .

The profound spiritual territory of depression. And why “depression” is one of the most inadequate words in our vocabulary for this human experience.

02/04/2021

Join Collective Justice for a HEAL CIRCLE dedicated to formerly incarcerated men!