Our growing community in Portland.

As we begin a new year in 2014, Latino community members in the Portland region know it’s time for a Latino community and education center in Portland.Why do we think this is true? Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority community in the county, and represent approximately 12% of the population.Young Latinos as a segment of the population is growing faster than any other.37.3% of Latinos in Multnomah County are under 18 years of age, and Latinos represent nearly 20% of the school age population.Multnomah County mirrors the state’s trend, comprising an estimated 12% Latino population statewide. More than 40% of its population is 19 years of age or under (median age is 25 years compared to 39 for non-Latino whites). Today, there are more than twice as many Latino children under five as there are non-Latino and most of these Latino children were born in the US.

Latino purchasing power in Portland alone is nearly $4 billion and growing. Supermercados and panaderias can be found wherever there is a population of Mexican descent. Mexican restaurants and taquerias attract mainstream Oregonians almost everywhere. In Multnomah County, Latinos have the highest rate of small business ownership.

The Latino influence is evident in cultural celebrations: Latino music, dance, and theater groups perform around state; and Spanish language and bilingual communications media have proliferated in the last 10 years.

While all exciting, the reality today is that Latino youth increasingly face significant disparities, with notably higher rates of poverty, unemployment, teen pregnancy, and incarceration, while achieving significantly less education attainment, home ownership, and success in high paying managerial professions.Latino youth are becoming Oregon’s majority ethnic population and will be our future workforce and leaders. Yet, the data show that they face many barriers to a successful and healthy transition to adulthood. The fast growth of this young and vibrant Latino Community has outpaced the institutional capacity to serve the needs of such an emerging community. These trends evidence these facts:

· Almost three times as many Latino children live in poverty than non-Latino White children.

· A clear disparity lies in the teen pregnancy and birth rates for young Latinas (74 per thousand for Latinas compared to 21 per thousand for non-Latina Whites)

· Data indicates that 52% of Latino youth in Multnomah County failed to graduate in 4 years with a regular diploma.

· Almost one in three Latino youths (33%) considers themselves overweight.

· More than 40% of Latino youth live in a single parent household compared with 27%

The conditions under which people live, learn, work and play affect their life profoundly. Access to social and economic opportunity are inextricably linked to many of these life outcomes. We need a permanent civic and educational space in this community that highlights our collective contributions and offers educational supports, health and economic opportunity, and civic leadership development opportunities for Latinos.

Momentum is building…for a building.

A community center signifies cultural affirmation, pride, and an acknowledgement by the greater community of our growing population and contributions to this city, state and region.Latino population growth has long outpaced the existing institutional capacity in our institutions. What we require is a center, a space, for us to innovate with one another in order to engage in our own community health, enrichment and growth.And it’s about time.

At 12% of the population Latino numbers continue to grow.We can leverage this growth in our community into a center with permanency, planned and built with love, pride and community self-determination. A permanent center will assist in our meeting the changing needs of our community and develop culturally resonant, responsive solutions that move our children and families to thriving. It also provides a “living room” or forum for the exchange of information, civic strengthening, and ongoing dialogue on pressing trends.Most importantly, this project also provides a unique opportunity for our elected, civic and community leadership to come together to symbolically embrace our community and allow us to be recognized for our economic, cultural and social contributions to Portland, Multnomah and Oregon.

Our community space.

The Latino Community & Education Center will offer a continuum of programs and supports beginning in early childhood and extending through high school graduation, including academic and cultural enrichment, leadership, skillbuilding and violence prevention activities for youth and families.In addition to these, the Center will also act as a “cultural living room” and host celebrations and other ethnic traditions. Specifically, we will see:

· Meaningful civic participation, leadership and cultural exchange.For too long Latinos in this community have experienced exclusion or disconnection from leadership opportunities and the civic sphere. We can correct these historical voids in political leadership.A Latino community center will provide an open forum for intercultural exchange in the City, and will also prepare institutions (social, economic, political) for the influx of the next generation of Latinos, many of whom will vote.

· Celebration of our diverse heritages, languages and cultures.Weneed a place where we can place a strong focus on cultural/linguistic confidence and identity, self-expression, art and culture.

· Economic and civic opportunity.Community transformation is the primary goal, where a deep change in each participant’s perceptions as an outsider to the Portland metro community to a critical contributing agent within and a part of the greater community is essential to the civic and economic health of this city and region.

· Building successful students, parents and leaders.Individuals seeking enrichment will receive services to promote positive life choices, to equate academic achievement with our cultural values, and understand the importance of student academic success. Additionally, development of a civic ethic will be prioritized.

· Accountable to the community.A community center will be founded and run by the Latino community, thus we take personal responsibility to ensure a successful, culturally affirming experience for every participant. Each child and parent is viewed as a valuable investment in our collective community's future.

We currently rent space in school buildings, churches and other nonprofit organizations who graciously accommodate us to host our cultural traditions and celebrations, trainings and classes.Our Latino community deserves a longer term option that not only affords us the ability to bring in-house trainings and programs to accommodate scheduling times that work best for the community, but also provide the growing Latino community a sense of public space that is our own, similar to great organizations such as NAYA, CIO, SEI and IRCO.Our education center will bring community in, facilitate key programs and services, and provides a culturally affirming gathering space for everyone regardless of program or organizational affiliation.

Will you join us?

Your voice matters.Over the next several months you can be instrumental in helping us reach our goal of a community education center for Latino youth, families and adults.Here are a few ways your voice will make a difference:

ü Develop support among key government and business stakeholders;

ü Build community support for the project through presentations, donation or other means;

ü Sign this petition! Forward this link to your friends and families.

We are grateful for the opportunity to share our dream for the Portland-area Latino community. With your support we can achieve this goal of a community education center for all of us!

Sincerely,

Jonath Colon

Rey Espana

Victor Merced

Carmen Rubio

Consuelo Saragoza

Ana Spain

Nathan Teske