“The Arriba Juntos mission is to promote economic self-sufficiency for San Franciscans and their families through occupational training and employment opportunities”

The agency was founded in May 1965 by Leandro Soto, Herman Gallegos, and James McAlister. Its original name was The Organization for Business, Education and Community Advancement (O.B.E.C.A.) In 1967, the name changed to Arriba Juntos, Spanish for upward together.

The original mission of Arriba Juntos was to meet the basic service needs of the Latino immigrants moving into the Mission District in the 1960’s. Those needs were housing, education, employment, childcare and health care. During the sixties such programs were supported by President Johnson’s War on Poverty.

In the early seventies the Models Cities Program came to San Francisco and many new agencies began to serve the Latino population of the Mission District. Throughout the seventies and the eighties Arriba Juntos grew and added many new programs and services with its strong suit being employment and training programs.

From the mid nineties to the present Arriba Juntos has expanded its vision and now provides education and employment programs on a citywide basis serving many neighborhoods and many different ethnic groups and cultures. The clarion call of the agency is still the same: “Upward Together – Arriba Juntos" as was the case in 1965, our clients are still among those most at risk for prolonged poverty, including...

...homeless heads of household lacking marketable job skills;
...chronically underemployed and unemployed individuals;
...long-term welfare recipients;
...high school dropouts; domestic violence victims;
...individuals with limited English-speaking skills; and
...children who are two or more grades behind in school.