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 …