KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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El Centro serves the Latino community in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
Since 2020, Johnson County’s Hispanic population has grown by 8%.
The nonprofit provides access to services from health care and education to economic opportunities.
All staff members at El Centro are bilingual, and the organization ensures programs are linguistically and culturally relevant to the community.
Yvette Carias-Solis, economic empowerment coordinator, said an important part of what El Centro does is eliminating language barriers.
“Some clients, it’s already hard enough for them to even ask for help," Carias-Solis said. "So, to be there in their language, and as soon as you come in, ‘Hola. Buenos días. Buenas tardes. Cómo está?’ How can we help you? Automatically, that's kind of like, 'Okay, they speak my language. This is a good place, so maybe this is a good chance for me to be able to finally get what I needed.'"
Carias-Solis said the Hispanic community in Johnson County was once predominantly Mexican. However, more people from Central and South America have moved to the area.
She explained that as the community grows and evolves, so does El Centro's needs.
“We try to educate clients of what services El Centro can be able to provide, right?" Carias-Solis said. "And also let them know that if they don't have a need now, and maybe there's a future need that they might have, that El Centro has their doors open for them to be able to come in and be able to get that service."
El Centro recently added a program for first-time homebuyers as staff saw a greater need for that knowledge in recent years.
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