MISSION STATEMENT
The Armando Perez Community Center is dedicated to strengthening and empowering politically disenfranchised people who have been denied economic opportunity and who have been excluded from access to cultural and community services and who are:

* Primarily Lower East Side Residents
* From Diverse Cultural Backgrounds
* Of Low and Moderate Income
* From Diverse Age Groups, with Emphasis on Youth & Seniors
* Local Artists and Art Groups
* Community Based Not-for-Profits

The Armando Perez Community Center will be a strong advocate for improvement in education, housing, community development, social services, economic, and cultural diversity.

The Armando Perez Community Center will be a highly visible social gathering place and a community Cultural home on the Lower East Side; a resource for the community's artistic, economic educational and spiritual growth.

The Armando Perez Community Center will honor, advocate for, empower, celebrate and encourage an appreciation of our diverse cultures.

GOALS OF THE ORGANIZATION
1. To provide an ongoing artistic and cultural center for the people of the Lower East Side at affordable cost. The center will be available to individuals and not-for-profit groups, with a special emphasis on its use for those whose members are in the lower and moderate income brackets.

2. To provide space for a variety of community services and community based not for profit organizations for both long term as well as short-term usage.

3. To provide space in the Lower East Side (Loisaida), for the community and the greater N.Y. area, where a variety of artists, from variety of disciplines, can work at their art, rehearse, store their materials, and ultimately present their work at the center. With this understanding, artists who rent space at the APCC will contribute some portion of their time, talent, services, or work for the benefit of community residents, primarily in the form of classes, workshops, presentations and exhibits.

Neighborhood kids at the former Charas/El Bohio.

4. To provide employment training and career development assistance for community members interested in pursuing the arts or art management skills, computer, and other areas available for training and future employment.

5. To establish and maintain a strong open relationship with the people of the Lower East Side Community.

6. To reflect in its actions and operations, a clear philosophical and economic perspective aligned with the values and struggles of the community.

7. To encourage and maintain a serious artistic thrust and a high level of professional artistry among tenant members, especially in the development of grassroots talent in the community.

8. To develop and maintain programs that will assure a high level of participation by people with disabilities, at risk youth and senior members of the community.

9. To develop and maintain an Armando Perez Community Center Capitol Program.

10. To promote a strong sense of fellowship, networking, and harmonious cooperation among tenants, clients, and the community which it serves.

11. To serve the children and teenagers of Loisaida on an ongoing basis, and to develop mechanisms that assure that this emphasis will be maintained.

12. To strive in its programs and activities to fulfill the unmet needs of the community it serves.