Voices Without Borders, Inc. (Voices) grew out of a collaborative effort between the Diocese of Wilmington and St. Paul’s Parish, which served as the project’s primary fiscal agent.  In 1950, St. Paul’s, one of the oldest churches in Wilmington, began receiving the first Hispanic settlers – Puerto Rican families who suffered discrimination and had a difficult time establishing themselves.

In 1998, the Diocese of Wilmington initiated a “year of listening” and conducted over 1,000 interviews with members of the Hispanic community throughout the diocese.  The listening process was culminated by a historic Encuentro (gathering) of over 1,600 participants who together celebrated their diverse cultures, their common faith and their vision for the future.  As a result, St. Paul’s Parish took a leading role in carrying out the diocesan pastoral plan through its development of Voices Without Borders (Voces Sin Fronteras), a faith-based social action effort that brought clergy and community leaders together to identify community issues, conducted research to understand the systems that have an impact on those issues, and built power to effectively bring about social justice change.

In September 2000, the parish raised funds to hire a full-time community organizer to develop the organizing project.  Today, as a community organizing and grass roots organization, Voices relies mainly on its volunteers and a committed Board of Directors to be successful.  Through the years, the organization has carved a niche as an advocate for Latinos in the state creating spaces for dialogue seeking social justice and institutional change on their behalf. 

There are many areas where the organization has been active.  The organization has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform by contacting state and federal legislators, worked with the community in areas such as education, law enforcement, public safety, health, tenant’s rights, and housing among others.  Voices Without Borders’ name is not a coincidence and was a result of the listening campaign revealing that Hispanics and the community at large share a common cause: the need to improve their quality of life.  The organization is an advocate for those who do not have a voice within the community.