The organization that would become NOVALACIRO was founded in 2005 by the late community activist Charlie Rinker as BRAVO, (Buyers and Renters Arlington Voice), a grassroots organization dedicated to housing justice. Charlie served as BRAVO board president until a year before his death in 2015.

A few years after Charlie's passing, and in light of the fact that BRAVO was then duplicating the efforts of its sister organization BUGATA, the board decided to change the name and focus of the organization to broader issues affecting the Latinx community in Northern Virgina, and BRAVO became NOVALACIRO.

NOVALACIRO's first campaign was an effort to make it possible for residents of Virginia to obtain driver's licenses regardless of their immigration status. After several years of struggle, this campaign, led by New Virginia Majority, eventually won, when Governor Northam signed the bill authorizing Virginia to issue drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants living in the state.

For the last three years, NOVALACIRO has been focused on helping create worker cooperatives in the community it serves. During October 2021, Mujeres Manos a la Obra Virginia Cleaning Co-op launched as a worker owned, democratically run business.