Fifteen years of opening doors.
Since 2011, a home for Latinx families in Norristown.In 2011, Latinx families opened the doors of CCATE with a simple belief: everyone here has something to teach. This October we celebrate our 15th anniversary — and invite fifteen foundation partners to walk with us into the next fifteen years.
15
We are a treeRooted in the community, drawing strength from everyone around it
CCATE ignites social transformation by developing the talents of the Latinx community through culture, art, work and education.
Our journey: fifteen years togetherFrom a single table to a whole community’s home
Four chapters, told the way our families tell it — as something we built together, one class, one exhibition, one open door at a time.
The Seed
A dream is planted
The Arango Kautz family founds CCATE on a conviction that would shape everything after: Norristown’s immigrant families are a community of artists, teachers and leaders.
The doors open
CCATE opens its doors and begins programs — the moment we celebrate this October. From the very first classes, families help decide what is taught and who teaches it.
Roots
Our students’ art starts winning at the region’s great institutions — and Pennsylvania and Mexico take notice.
A path to college — and the first films
The high school college-prep program begins, and students make their first films. Both are still running today.
First prizes
1st place at the Barnes Foundation sculpture competition and the Mexican Consulate piñata competition. Dr. Costas Award for Social Change; Obed Arango named Education Advocate of the Year.
Youth filmmakers take the prize
Bucks Fever FilmFest winner and audience choice. Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education visits; our Villanova mural is inaugurated.
A “School That Teaches”
Governor Wolf names CCATE one of Pennsylvania’s “Schools That Teach.”
The Ohtli Award
Mexico’s highest honor for organizations abroad — CCATE is only the 10th in the world to receive it. Noche de Arte welcomes 200 guests, and our Health Circle is born.
Las Artivistas go to Washington
Our women’s art collective exhibits at the Organization of American States and at Penn’s Annenberg Center.
Strength and agency
The pandemic tested every community center. Ours came out of it with a van, a radio license and its tenth birthday.
Staying together, apart
A new Strategic Plan (2020–26) puts collective leadership, equity, engagement and sustainability at the center of our work.
$35,000 for a van
Our community raises the money for a 15-passenger van — the one that now carries students to college campuses across the Northeast.
Ten years, honored
At Noche de Arte: a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, a County Proclamation and a diploma from the Mexican Consulate. The FCC licenses Montgomery County’s first Latin low-power FM station. REVARTE magazine, our Penn research partnership and the High School Leadership Institute all begin.
In Bloom
When fear arrived in our neighborhood, CCATE became the place where 400 people gathered to face it together.
Our largest season ever
36 workshops across grades 2–12 and adult programs. 60 trees planted in a single day. Noche de Arte funds the entire summer camp.
Recognized across the region
GSK IMPACT Award — one of 10 organizations in Greater Philadelphia. Our first international exhibition gathers 79 works by children in six countries. Our community podcast, Diálogos de la Villa Inmigrante (Dialogues from the Immigrant Village), goes live.
A community stands together
400 people fill our Immigration Community Assembly alongside officials from every level of government. 100 teachers give 18,560 hours. Montgomery County honors CCATE with an official proclamation at Noche de Arte.
Fifteen years
A weekly free immigration legal clinic opens. 34+ students and families tour Harvard, MIT, Wellesley and Boston College. Our gallery renovation nears completion. And on October 10, we celebrate fifteen years.
A community that paints its own storyArt by CCATE students, families and Las Artivistas — much of it on sale October 10
See more in REVARTE
Pictured, bottom right: “Sit in my place,” an installation by Las Artivistas, CCATE’s women’s group. Other artwork published in REVARTE, CCATE’s community magazine. To protect our families, we photograph hands and art, not faces.
One building, every generationWhere we are today — from second graders to grandparents
In their own wordsA college campus, finally imaginable
“I can visualize myself there. I really liked the University of Pittsburgh.”
“In the CCATE community, everyone learns something new every day.”
“Here there is always an opportunity to be a leader. If you had asked me when I started whether I saw myself leading classes, I would have said no way.”
“I came to CCATE because I needed so badly to spend time with others who spoke my language.”
Why now?The need has never been greater. Neither has our readiness.
The next fifteen yearsWhat your partnership makes possible
These priorities feed our new five-year strategic plan, launching in 2027 and shaped by the families we serve.
For every $1 you give, $2.17 goes to work in Norristown.
In 2025, 100 teachers — Norristown parents and teens alongside students and faculty from Penn, Villanova, Temple, Bryn Mawr, Haverford and St. Joseph — gave 18,560 hours at CCATE, worth $641,726: more than every grant we received combined.
$2.17 at work in Norristown — $1.00 your gift · $1.12 teaching from families & volunteers · $0.05 CCATE’s own revenue · FY2025 reviewed financial statements ↗
The Circle of FifteenFifteen partners for our fifteenth year — rooted like the tree we are
Goal: 15 partners · $200,000
1 Roots · 2 Trunk · 4 Branches · 8 Blossoms
Retires a seventh of the $341,000 left on our building’s mortgage — a permanent home for the next fifteen years.
- Presenting partner of Noche de Arte 2026
- Largest name on the partner wall in the new CCATE Gallery
- Recognition from the stage and in the anniversary video
- Invitation to our 2027 strategic-planning circles
Funds a year of a part-time postsecondary coordinator — the first step toward the full-time role our students need.
- Named partner of the 2027 Leadership Institute and college tour
- Feature in REVARTE magazine and on our community podcast
- Priority booking of the gallery community room
- Everything in Branches
Fifteen for fifteen: covers our entire annual scholarship and student-support fund.
- Recognition from the stage
- Name on the partner wall in the CCATE Gallery
- Private gallery tour and site visit
- Annual impact report from our families
Puts 22 students on next spring’s college tour.
- Name on the partner wall and in the anniversary video
- An original print from the Noche de Arte collection
Ways to join: a grant or pledge letter (one year or three); through BILL (connect with Centro de Cultura Arte Trabajo y Educacion, Payment Network ID 0244047758288930); a check payable to CCATE, mailed to PO Box 1185, Blue Bell, PA 19422; or online through Givebutter, including donor-advised funds via DAFpay. For ACH or wire instructions, email Chang — we confirm bank details by phone.
Partners are recognized on the night; every partner, whenever they join, is honored permanently on the partner wall in the CCATE Gallery and on this page. Your team is always welcome at Noche de Arte as our guests.
EIN 26-2987850 · CCATE – Center for Culture, Art, Training and Education, 501(c)(3) public charity
Due-diligence kit · everything your grants team needs, ready to download
A meeting place for the regionA room where Norristown’s partners can meet
Many regional funders and nonprofits have no place of their own to gather. Once our gallery renovation is complete, its community room will be open to foundations, NGOs and community groups — surrounded by the art our families make.
A 15th-anniversary celebration for the whole community
For one night every room of CCATE opens: both galleries, the back patio and food stations cooked by our families and neighborhood restaurants. Walk through a history room built around our founding table, bid on work by our students and Las Artivistas, dance to live music and record a memory at our testimonial station.
- When
- Saturday, October 10 · 5–9 PM2026
- Where
- CCATE1246 W. Main St, Norristown, PA 19401
- Tickets
- Adults $40 · Children $10Dinner included · art sale, auction and raffles
Past Noches de ArteEvery year, our anniversary is a night of art — and a promise kept
Thank you to those who walk with usFoundations, companies and universities
People’s Media Fund · HealthSpark Foundation · The Barra Foundation · Connelly Foundation · Claneil Foundation · The Philadelphia Foundation · Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia · Pennsylvania Council on the Arts · Comcast · Pfizer · KeyBank · Bread & Roses Community Fund · Scattergood Foundation · PHS
University of Pennsylvania · Villanova University · Saint Joseph’s University · Bryn Mawr College · Haverford College · Ursinus College · Arcadia University · Cabrini University · Temple University · Montgomery County Community College
Witness the next fifteen years with us.
CCATE – Center for Culture, Art, Training and Education · 1246 W. Main St, Norristown, PA 19401501(c)(3) · EIN 26-2987850 · To protect our families, we photograph hands and art, not faces.