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Jodi Ramos isn’t as fluent in Spanish as she would like to be, but that hasn’t stopped her from pushing Hispanic Educational Resources Inc. (HER) to new heights as executive director.

“I’ve always had a passion for the Latino community,” said Ramos, who has been with the organization for two years and has been its executive director since August. “You definitely have to be familiar with Latino and Hispanic culture, because it can be hard to relate to if you’re not.”

The nonprofit, which tries to identify service gaps in the Latino and Hispanic community, was founded nearly 25 years ago as the United Mexican-American Community Center, and has since grown into a bilingual early-education center.

Yet the education center, which focuses on integrating Hispanic and American cultures in the classroom for children ages 2 through 5, is just one component of the organization. HER also focuses on advocacy, outreach and education of young adults and parents.

“We really focus on empowering people,” Ramos said, “and that includes parents and young adults.”

Ramos said the organization has one case manager and two parent educators who go into the community and educate parents about the benefits of HER, as well as find adult children who have just entered the country and are trying to adjust to the American lifestyle.

The organization hosts basic computer classes for parents who want to expand their skills, and is trying to revive its youth summer and after-school programs.

“We don’t want to assimilate people,” she said. “But we do want to ensure they are acclimating to the American culture.”

Ramos said it helps that all of HER’s staff speaks both Spanish and English, even though being bilingual is not a prerequisite to work for the organization. Other organizations, such as United Way of Central Iowa and Des Moines Area Community College, offer internal training and courses to teach both languages to HER employees; moreover, primarily Spanish-speaking HER employees will conduct one-on-one tutoring sessions with fellow employees who need help learning Spanish, she said.