La Plaza Central

If you are blessed to get to go the Dominican Republic avoid  the ugly hamster/anteater looking thing.  I do like the name, though.  Hispaniola solenodon.

I read an article over the break about increasing diversity in church congregations that prompted a few thoughts.  I can’t speak to the increase in minority enrollment in predominantly white churches because I only work in primarily Latino churches and don’t attend church regularly myself.  But I can speak to the increase in quantity and size of the Hispanic churches around town.  I have a list that’s pages long of churches in the area, and so many of them are new and growing quickly.  We had the pleasure of starting our health and diabetes classes at Nuevo Nacimiento, and I’m in the process of finding another church for the next round of sessions.

I also enjoyed the author’s comment that churches are growing more informal and utilizing technology to attract more people.  I think this has been true of Latino churches for awhile now.  The best sound systems in Central America, outside of reggaeton concerts, are in the one-room churches all over town.  Picture one mike, one ginormous speaker and loud singing that creates such distortion that challenges even the best Spanish speaker to understand it.  And I loved that about the churches.  There was much greater freedom for self-expression, and people aprovechar-ed that.  I have seen the same attention to music in Latino churches here in Lincoln.  I think Metallica could play on Nuevo Nacimiento’s stage without needing to bring so much as a symbol from their equipment.

Our copiously talented Assistant Director, Marien Ruiz, is coordinating a series of monthly seminars in Spanish on topics ranging from home mortgage loans to getting your kids into the University and everything in between.  Each month will have a new guest speaker, and this guy will be discussing health and diabetes in April.  Most of the sessions will have an economic theme, such as maintaining good credit, managing a business, and creating a home budget.  Additionally, there are a few seminars set aside to present public services and organizations like the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission and the Mexican American Commission.  The first seminar will be Wednesday, the 21st of January here at El Centro, and Martha Moran will cover the basics of filing taxes with and without social security numbers.  Everyone is welcome.  They only last an hour from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.  They’ll be informative and great Spanish practice for anyone interested.  Eso es todo.

Flyer (Spanish)

Someone called the office yesterday looking for where they could learn to speak “Hispanic.”  I can’t fault the guy as his interest seemed very genuine, and it sounded like knowing Spanish would be very useful to him in his job.  We get calls from people every now and then asking to learn Spanish, but the truth is we don’t have any classes here and their options are pretty limited.  We usually send them to SEC for language classes, but aside from that their only other option is shelling out a lot of money for Rosetta Stone or going to the library to use their copy for free.  I have heard from several people that the program works very well, but not everyone can afford the $500 price tag.  I have a friend who lived in Toronto that mentioned to me once about a lanaguage exchange program that sounded pretty cool.  For example, someone who knew English and wanted to learn Italian would be matched with someone who knew Italian and wanted to learn English.  No money exchanged.  They would just meet in public places and take turns giving lessons.  Lincoln might not be a big enough market for something like that, but it would be cool if it happened someday.

Update: Due to this post and some discussions in the office, we’re thinking about maybe possibly potentially doing a Spanish class in the evenings here in the office.  Answer the poll if you’re interested.

Luckily, your friends here at El Centro have a tax preparation assistance program in the works. I will be working alongside a rep from the IRS every Monday night from 5:30 to 7:30 pm starting Monday, January 26th on through Monday, April 13th. The primary goal is to help our Hispanic community reap some benefits of their hard work via properly filing their taxes and  possibly receiving government tax reimbursements of which they weren’t aware. If you know anyone in this boat, please pass along the news and tell them to bring all information possible to ease the filing process. Thanks!

What an illuminated question to ask oneself when one is a philanthropist: What is the return on investment of donations? These people know the answer. After a very effective needs assessment of the Latino community, the Omaha Community Foundation is educating and empowering it. These individuals learn English and get welding jobs that help Omaha grow at every level. Let this be a proud call to non-profit donors, recruiters and workers alike. Let’s play the Name Remember Game: Fred Amis, John Sunderman, Ernesto Ali, Octavio Zinzun, the Omaha Community Foundation, Paxton & Vierling Steel Co., Metropolitan Community College, and Patrick McNamara. I don’t know any of these people or places, but I’d like to meet them and shake hands.

The first day back after a long break, so excuse the delay as we ratchet things up around here.

Brent and Marissa have pictures from the Christmas party that I will upload shortly.

The Journal Star had an article over the break about the new immigration court in Omaha.  It sounds like a mixed bag since the court should expedite proceedings for people who have to wait a long time for their day in court, occasionally in jail.

On a more positive note, I saw an article in the Omaha World Herald from the Associated Press about mariachi music classes becoming more common in high schools across the country.   Besides teaching students about Mexican customs and bridging the cultural divide, they give young Hispanic students another reason to stay in school.  Latinos are disproportionately more likely to dropout and Nebraska is no exception with Latinos about 4 times more likely to drop out than their Caucasian counterparts.  The Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP) is working to improve graduation rates, and I know they’re always looking for good mentors…

Update: Check that.  Christmas party photos are online, although it looks like Brent’s camera was wearing Tony La Russa’s glasses all night.