El/La Para TransLatinas: A San Francisco Organization Built Around Trans Latina Support

El/La Para TransLatinas is a San Francisco-founded nonprofit focused on transgender Latinas. Established in 2006, the organization provides legal, fiscal, educational, health and other services, making it part of the city’s LGBTQ-focused support network.

The group emerged after Proyecto ContraSIDA por Vida closed. Its founding is credited to Marcia Ochoa, Alexandra Rodriguez de Ruiz and Isa Noyola. El/La Para TransLatinas initially operated as an HIV-prevention organization serving the broader LGBT community. Its work later encompassed a wider set of needs affecting transgender Latinas, including access to health services, education and legal and financial assistance.

The organization’s stated direction centers on helping trans Latinas build the confidence and collective support to care for themselves, pursue their development and respond to violence, abuse and illness. That framework places mutual support alongside direct services: the group’s purpose is not limited to one health issue or a single type of assistance.

El/La Para TransLatinas has also faced funding challenges. In 2009, the organization was described as severely underfunded after losing government support when San Francisco redirected money previously allocated to El/La toward Instituto Familiar de la Raza Inc. The available account notes that the organization subsequently sought a way forward, but the supplied material does not provide further details about the outcome of that effort.

As of June 2026, Nicole Santamaría was the organization’s executive director. The source identifies Santamaría as the first trans person to hold that position.

For San Francisco readers, El/La Para TransLatinas offers a concise example of how community organizations can develop in response to gaps in care and protection. Its history links HIV prevention, trans Latina leadership, practical services and organizing against violence and illness. The organization’s origins also reflect the continuing importance of local, culturally specific support for transgender people navigating health, legal, educational and financial concerns.

Source and reuse information This automatically generated backgrounder adapts text from “El/La Para TransLatinas” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El/La_Para_TransLatinas The adapted text is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. The source article’s linked references are provided below where available. This story has not been independently reviewed or fact-checked.

Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://prezi.com/kuqwc9b5clto/translatina-safety-2014/ - https://missionlocal.org/2015/08/funeral-service-for-sf-transgender-activist-jovana-luna-annouced - https://web.archive.org/web/20170519201216/http://ellaparatranslatinas.yolasite.com/mission.php - https://web.archive.org/web/20170223021904/http://www.sfexaminer.com/sf-pride-announces-grand-marshal-candidates/ - https://web.archive.org/web/20170301095523/http://www.sfpride.org/grand-marshals/ - https://sfpride.org/press-release/2021/05/07/grand-marshals-2021/ Image rights Photograph description: Janetta Johnson of the TGI Justice Project, accompanied by trans activist Tita Aida and members of El/La Para TransLatinas, speaks on stage at the San Francisco Trans March 2016. Creator: Pax Ahimsa Gethen. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATrans_women_at_San_Francisco_Trans_March_2016_(cropped).jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.