CENTRO – Education and Family Services for Latino Families in the Twin Cities
July, 30, 2010
Right after entering the building of CENTRO, meaning “CENTER” in Spanish, a visitor immediately encounters a visible Hispanic flair. The decoration of the place is exceptionally homely as the offices within the building are designed to appear as independent, small houses with terracotta roofs. There are also paintings and murals everywhere evoking a feeling of visiting a building painted by Diego Rivera. The whole building was designed to make the visitor feel comfortable. On the right side of the building, there are couches, windows, and even a small sauna so the young teenagers to feel at home when they visit.
The place is fully bilingual, and as one enters the building, it seems as if one had just crossed the border. CENTRO, however, remind us of how intertwined the Hispanic community is with the Twin Cities. The programs help individuals of different backgrounds as there are many interracial families with Hispanic heritage.
CENTRO is well known among the Hispanic community and many Hispanics benefit extensively from its diverse and comprehensive services. Among CENTRO’s programs are child care services, services for senior citizens, food services for 50 to 80 families in need every week, free clothing services focusing on winter clothing for children, a bilingual pre-K, three bilingual psychologists, “raices” an AIDS prevention program, gangs and truancy prevention, folk dance services including salsa and merengue lessons, and various monthly and yearly celebrations such as a children’s day event where 500 children and families can sign up to participate, celebrate and receive a free toy.
In relation to continuing education, CENTRO offers Hispanics the opportunity to go back to school and finish their elementary and high school studies. Sandra Reyes, CENTRO’s Education / Literacy Project Coordinator, believes that a large number of Hispanic immigrants, particularly first generation immigrants, have not finished elementary school, and over 70% did not graduate from high school.
One of CENTRO’s most innovative programs has worked to alleviate this problem by offering an internationally recognized high school education program promoted by the Mexican Government thru EDUCAMEXUS which offers education to Mexican immigrants in the United States and Canada (http://educamexus.org). A Mexican TV station came to Minneapolis on July 29, to interview the program staff members and some participating students. Oscar, a graduating student, will be starting his studies at a higher education institution in the upcoming semester. In addition, Mexico recently broke a new educational barrier by being the first Latin American country to offer free online university courses.
For many years CENTRO has provided indispensible services to the Twin Cities Hispanic community. Unfortunately, the demand for some services is much greater the goods and funds donated to provide them. The bilingual pre-K has a long waiting list and only in a matter of hours 500 families sign up to participate in the yearly children’s day event. There are also more individuals asking for food than they are able to provide. CENTRO does its best to provide the Hispanic community all the support it can with its limited resources. Fortunately as a result of their hard work and effective organization, CENTRO has continuously expanded, and hopefully they will be able to serve an even larger population in future years.
For additional information visit: http://www.centromn.org/, or call: 612-874-1412
CENTRO El Zócalo 1915 Chicago Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55404
