About 15% of the population – or just under 90,000 people – in Utah County identify as Hispanic or Latino. Nonprofit Centro Hispano, established in 2003, is “committed to empowering Utah County’s Latino community through equitable access to basic resources, information, and education.”
Based in Provo, the organization annually serves about 11,000 people, according to Jackie Larson, CEO and executive director of Centro Hispano. Among its programs, the nonprofit offers workforce development opportunities, including skills training for electricians and HVAC workers. The jobs programming serves a couple hundred people each year.
For George Correa, the organization’s workforce development director, the motivation to create these pathways is personal. “Who is the community? The community is the Latino or the Latinx community. And what that means is the New American or the newcomer to the USA – the immigrant, the refugee.
“I’m Latino. I’m from Colombia. I remember my parents coming to the U.S. I grew up in Miami. I remember my mom cleaning toilets and having her hands being chemically burned from all the things that she was using.
“For us at Centro and for me, in particular, I think it’s important that we give anyone, but particularly Latinos, other avenues, other opportunities.”
Opportunity Via Skilled Trades
“The reason we went with skilled trades is because it is access to earning potential quite quickly,” says Correa. “HVAC technicians and electricians can make some very good money quite quickly in just a couple years.” In addition, Centro Hispano is currently developing a plumbing program.
Larson adds, “With this program, we’re really trying to elevate them – to help provide them with licenses, certifications, and training so that they can meet their earning potential here in the U.S.”
Funding from the Lowe’s Foundation
Earlier this year, Centro Hispano received a Gable Grant from the Lowe’s Foundation. The nonprofit is among a group of awardees who are addressing the country’s skilled trades gap.
The Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grants program is a multi-year (2023-2028), $50 million commitment to train 50,000 job-ready skilled tradespeople.
“We feel really blessed and privileged to be able to participate with the Lowe’s Gable Grant this year,” says Larson. “They’ve been a really wonderful grantor. I think our goals are very much aligned. We’ve been doing grassroots for a long time, and this grant has helped us to develop a more robust program.”
Correa explains, “We were having to find volunteers – having to essentially beg someone to impart their knowledge for free, and that’s not fair. The electrician teacher has done it for 12 years with no pay just because he loved the community, and I don’t think that’s fair.
“Lowe’s gave us the opportunity to treat everyone fairly and to compensate for the time and the effort that’s being spent on helping people.”
Support for Participants
Larson says there is significant collaboration among local organizations to support the population that Centro Hispano serves. “We serve a lot of the same people because they tend to be the people that have the needs. It’s very much a group effort in our county making sure people are taken care of.”
She notes, “We do have an English-specific workplace class where we’re trying to help them have the skills to communicate with clients. We work with them – usually with volunteers – one-on-one with where they’re at.”
Larson says there are various reasons why the Hispanic/ Latino population settles in the area. “One of them is family. A lot of people have connections here. Family is really big in Utah.
“It’s perceived as a very wealthy state, and it’s rumored to be easy to find employment here. And then in Utah County specifically, there are a lot of agricultural endeavors, lots of farms that our immigrants tend to work in.”
Correa says, “We talk about people who work in fields and it’s not bad work. I don’t mean to sound like it’s beneath them but it’s not all they can do.
“I’m there in those classes and every time I hear, ‘Thank you so much for putting these classes on.’ Everyone sees the potential in learning these things.”
He explains that it’s not unusual for about two-thirds of each cohort to complete the training. “It does have a lot to do with life and the immigrant experience. It’s tough sometimes. But the ones who finish, they end up creating community which is worth mentioning.”
Employer Outreach
Larson says Centro Hispano is working to better connect its participants to the employer pipeline, but says, “We do have people who tell us that they’ve been able to get into an apprenticeship because of the classes that we do. That’s really exciting to be able to see them take a step forward into employment.”
Referencing the sense of community mentioned by Correa, Larson adds, “I think a lot of the Hispanic community find positions by word of mouth.”
‘Every course and learning counts’
Jafet Castro had previous construction experience when he arrived in the U.S. at the beginning of this year from Nicaragua. He was able to pick up some residential construction work through the community he built through the church that was providing him support.
Castro provided responses to WorkingNation with the assistance of translation by Centro Hispano. He says despite his past construction experience, it is important to participate in the organization’s training offerings.
“When we come to a new country, mainly the USA, we must update our studies/knowledge and, of course, try to obtain a certification in the short term, because that will be part of our future and profession to progress.”
He completed the HVAC training in July and is currently taking the electrician’s class – and expecting to finish at the end of October.
Castro has already put his previous and new skills to work, “In my job, I currently have a connection putting my training in the area of electricity into practice.
“We do remodeling and sometimes it is necessary to do small electrical work. I can do it since I have the knowledge. I have not begun to have experience in HVAC, but without a doubt I hope in the short term to find a job opportunity where I can apply this knowledge.”
When asked if his recent training is putting him on the pathway to a good career, Castro says, “Definitely yes, because I had the opportunity to put into practice something that I already liked – working in remodeling in this country and construction in my country. I have had the opportunity to add to my studies with these courses thanks to Centro Hispano.
“I began to gain interest and passion for this, which is why I now study it. Every course and learning counts and adds up. It is part of our experience for a better future. The more study and knowledge, the more potential for a future career to progress in this country.”
