The Puerto Rican Cultural Center, founded in 1972, is a 50 year+ old organization that has been foundational to the creation of Paseo Boricua, as it is known— the economic, political, and cultural capital of the Puerto Rican community in the Midwest. It encapsulates the historical efforts of the same to resist gentrification through efforts such as the establishment of Puerto Rico Town. As part of Chicago's Puerto Rican Agenda, it contributes to organizing relief efforts after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, especially in Loiza and Comerio.

Born in the period following the 1966 Division Street riots, the PRCC addresses fundamental needs in the Puerto Rican/Latino communities of Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Hermosa Park. Over the course of our existence, our programs and affiliates have graduated thousands of community residents, trained dozens of adolescent peers, helped bridge the digital divide in a culturally relevant manner, and imbued hundreds of potential young community leaders with an incipient, holistic vision of community wellness and stability.

Our programs fall into 4 categories: Education, Public Health, Housing and Economic Development. These include an HIV and STD education and prevention program, a bilingual-bicultural daycare, a small business incubator, housing and and entrepreneurship initiatives, a community newspaper, as well as sponsoring major annual events – a community parade, the Midwest’s largest Latino musical festival, a haunted community strip, a holiday parranda (caroling) and a winter festival. Locate the serivces you need in our Google Map.

José E. López, Executive Director and co-founder of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, was born in 1949 in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. In 1959, his family moved to Chicago as part of the massive Puerto Rican migration to the United States. José received his B.A. Cum Laude from Loyola University, his M.A. in History and the prestigious Danforth and Ford Fellowships to continue his postgraduate studies. He has lectured and written extensively on the political and social reality of Puerto Ricans in the United States. He co-founded several major community-based institutions, including Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School, an alternative school serving at-risk youth; El Rincon Community Mental Health Center; and the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture.

At the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, our mission is to take actionable steps to engage our community working towards our self-determinatino, self-sufficiancy and self-reliance. Click on apply here to go to our job listings page at Indeed com..

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• Leave a Legacy for Social Change

• Remember the Puerto Rican Cultural Center in your will.

The PRCC provides services everyday through its programs and partnerships. Our leadership is integral to this task and through PRCC program staff, excel and the training, outreach and provision of these services.

For decades, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) had hoped to preserve and archive its history and that of Puerto Rican Chicago. In 2022, the PRCC launched “Digitizing the Barrio” to realize this dream. Led by sociologist Michael Rodríguez-Muñiz, historian Margaret Power, and archivist Angelica Hernández, and supported by Community Informatics Specialist Ann Peterson Kemp and community activist Luis Alejandro Molina, this project is currently cataloging and digitizing photographs, posters, flyers, correspondence, and other records about the PRCC and the broader community. This work is especially vital as gentrification and displacement threaten the community’s future. Inspired by the movement to build community archives, Digitizing the Barrio is laying the foundation for the creation, collection, and communication of local histories and struggles. It has received a Digitizing Hidden Collections grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR). The grant program is made possible by funding from the Mellon Foundation.

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center Board of Directors is composed of community members, activists and academics committed to the Center's mission. The Board members expertise includes Latin American History, Latino Politics and Identity, community informatics, program development, organizational process to informatics technology to government protocols.