A PUSH FOR CHANGE
As Baltimore’s Latino community grows, leaders want better health care, internet access and a voice
They are a small but growing slice of Baltimore’s population: Between 2012 to 2018, U.S. census figures show, the city’s Hispanic and Latino population grew by about 20%. With Odette Ramos poised to take a seat on Baltimore’s City Council as the first Latina member, The Baltimore Sun asked five Latino activists about the forces affecting the community and the changes they want to see.
Lucía Islas, president of
Comité Latino de Baltimore
As president of Comité Latino de Baltimore, Lucía Islas says her hobby is helping her community. The nonprofit was created to help single mothers and their children, and the group provides resources within the Hispanic community — regardless of one’s immigration status or ability to speak English.
Before the pandemic, monthly meetings were held at Gallery Church in Highlandtown; now they are taking place on Zoom. The Comité Latino Facebook group connects more than 3,000 members with food drives, housing, free COVID-19 testing and more. On an average day, Islas receives 20 calls and requests for help from all over the region.
“Right now after the pandemic, Facebook, WhatsApp and meetings on Zoom, it’s the kind of life that we are having,” Islas said. “Facebook is our way to communicate with the community.”
Her activism started 12 years ago with Mis Raíces, a Spanishspeaking mothers’ group at Patterson Park Public Charter School. Islas, who owns a cleaning company, has also been working since June at Centro
SOL as a community outreach specialist. The center offers support, mentoring, health services and more for the Latino community.
She’s grateful to pay it forward to an organization that helped her as a single mother of four and to return to studying psychology — a degree she wasn’t able to finish in
Mexico.
“Even though I had really hard times, I always was helped by all these organizations,” Islas said. “Now I work with them.”
Jesús Pérez, DACA recipient fighting for immigration reform and language access
Since 2008, Jesús Pérez and his activism have centered on immigration reform. He has called Baltimore home since emigrating with his family at five years old from Mexico, and he is a DACA recipient. Under this program,
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, children whose families brought them to the United States without legal authorization are allowed to live and work here.
Pérez, 28, is involved with CASA, an advocacy group for Latino and immigrant people in Maryland, and Nuestras Raíces Inc.— a 15-member nonprofit that aims to educate people on the diversity of Baltimore’s Latino community. Last September, Nuestras Raíces hosted a Parade of Latino Nations from Haven Street to Eastern Avenue that featured folk dances, marching bands, 50 rodeo horses and 30 local artists.
“We’re growing day by day,” Pérez said of the Latino community in Baltimore, where U.S. census figures show the number of people employed by Hispanic businesses doubled between 2012 and 2017 to roughly 2,500 people. “There’s a lot of Latino folks that are opening businesses all over the city, not just in the Highlandtown area, from restaurants to mechanic shops. There are many people from different places, from Central America, Mexico, a little sprinkle of Spain and Ecuador. It makes Baltimore more diverse; it brings in more joy and culture.”
Pérez works at Archbishop Borders School in Highlandtown and is a quinceañera dance choreographer. He is also a board member for Latino Providers Network, which coordinates more than 70 Baltimore organizations in providing services to the Latino community from health and education to business and employment. Pérez wants to see more language access in Baltimore for the Latino community.
“I just wish that we could have more services for the Latino community so they can be better informed and educated about so many city resources,” Pérez said. “Some of the city services don’t have bilingual staff. Sometimes, the school system may have bilingual staff, but not at full capacity.”