The Center was opened in June of 2002 under the name of El Zocalo.  In the fall of 2002, the name of the center was changed to El Centro Latinoamericano, which was thought to better reflect the needs of the entire Hispanic/Latino population to be served.

In 2006 we found new offices in the KWWL Building, located at 500 E. 4th Street in Waterloo.  This location is in the heart of the downtown, on the public transit line, handicapped accessible, lots of parking, and part of the designated Waterloo Cultural District.  Our new offices gave us the room to set up our computer lab, have plenty of room for our case workers, volunteers, bookkeeping and recordkeeping, and client waiting room.

In the fall of 2007, we were recognized by the Internal Revenue Services as meeting the criteria as a non-profit 501 (c) 3.