{"id":5062198,"date":"2024-10-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/walatinonews.com\/?p=5062198"},"modified":"2024-10-15T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T08:00:00","slug":"south-parks-villa-comunitaria-is-community-lifeline-for-latinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/2024\/10\/15\/south-parks-villa-comunitaria-is-community-lifeline-for-latinos\/","title":{"rendered":"South Park\u2019s \u2018Villa Comunitaria\u2019 Is Community Lifeline For Latinos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Jardin Infantil <\/em>Villa Comunitaria hosted during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic became more than a classroom for Guadalupe G. Contreras and her 4-year-old daughter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was an opportunity for my daughter and I to understand, hey, there is still a society, there is life, life goes on,\u201d Contreras said in Spanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first-time mother who immigrated from Mexico had been battling postpartum depression, but she said the support she received from Villa Comunitaria was \u201cvery motivating because I had no family here, they were the first people who I socialized with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa Comunitaria<\/a> is a non-profit organization that provides culturally relevant resources to the Latino community and other communities of color in Seattle\u2019s South Park neighborhood such as: computing classes, financial coaching, rental assistance programs, voter education classes, systems navigation programs for mixed-status families and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization was originally founded in 2005 though it was then called the South Park Information and Resource Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining Villa Comunitaria around 2021, Contreras said she has grown and shed harmful ways of parenting by attending child development classes alongside other Latina mothers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe come from a culture where we are taught that you educate [children] by hitting them or with bad words and we say \u2018that\u2019s the only way they are going to learn,\u2019 but when you are taught in classes for parents how to educate your child, then you learn that not only are you harming them physically, but also emotionally,\u201d Contreras said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience has left Contreras feeling empowered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe break barriers within our community,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A community member gives a backpack to a child during Villa Comunitaria’s Dia de la Familia event.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo<\/strong>: Provided by Villa Comunitaria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Members of Villa Comunitaria at a community event. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo<\/strong>: Provided by Villa Comunitaria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South Park neighbors gathered together at a Villa Comunitaria event. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo<\/strong>: Provided by Villa Comunitaria<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other classes that have had a positive impact on the community have been through the various paid \u201cPromotoras\u201d programs, Bilingual Outreach Coordinator, Maribel Pastor, said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Promotoras program is designed to train community members in a field such as gardening or environmental justice, and teach them how to host educational workshops for other neighbors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s about creating leadership in the community.\u201d Pastor said. \u201cIf a community member sees that another community member is involved and is progressing, that other community member will want to do the same.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Villa Comunitaria\u2019s community building efforts have expanded over the course of 19 years, so has their need to acquire a building of their own, Pastor said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The non-profit is currently located in the South Park Neighborhood Center (SPNC), and shares the space with four other community serving organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe infrastructure, not only for us, but for the whole community in South Park, is lacking,\u201d Pastor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South park is made up of nearly 29 percent of Latinos according to neighborhood data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been due to relatively affordable housing costs and the proximity of jobs but today it is grappling with gentrification and has been deemed a \u2018High Risk of Displacement\u2019 neighborhood by the City of Seattle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Park also lies along the west bank of the Duwamish River, which flooded the entire neighborhood two years ago and led Villa Comunitaria\u2019s resources to become critical to residents, Pastor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe city got involved, because there was aguas servidas<\/em>, wastewater,\u201d Pastor said.  \u201cThere was a health problem and there was nowhere to go for the neighbors. We were not trained in emergency, but we were called, like, \u2018okay, Villa Comunitaria, you’re in South Park, you speak Spanish, go and help us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helping neighbors with case management during that natural disaster became even more difficult because they did not have a space of their own, Pastor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these circumstances have led the non-profit to launch a Capital Campaign, which aims to raise funds to acquire a dedicated building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contreras said as the organization continues to grow, neighbors would benefit from Villa Comunitaria having a space to call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have no doubt that every project and idea they have will be successful because they support the latino community and we need it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The non-profit organization helped Mexican immigrant mothers like Guadalupe G. Contreras find community and \u201cbreak barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5062194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1075,23,25,5243,5763,169],"ppma_author":[181],"class_list":["post-5062198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-community","tag-hispanics","tag-latinos","tag-south-park","tag-villa-comunitaria","tag-washington"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Cindy-BTS-scaled-1-2048x1366.jpg",2048,1366,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/waln\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The non-profit organization helped Mexican immigrant mothers like Guadalupe G. 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