A center for all of us

I am currently attending the Parent Leadership Training Institute of Solano (PLTI Solano) class of 2022. As a student of this program, we have to create a project to help our children and the community as a whole.

My project is called “Centro Hispano Delo Condado De Solano/Hispanic Community Center of Solano County.” I will share with you the reasons why this center is badly needed.

According to an article published by U.S. News on Aug. 24, Solano County is the sixthmost diverse county in the United States, with a diversity index of 75.6%. and a total population of 453,491 — of which 28.3% is Hispanic or Latino (128,338 people). Back in 2015, the most common non-English language spoken in Solano County was Spanish at 15.2% — which means at least 68,930 people would benefit from this center.

Despite having over 28% of the population identified as Hispanic, we still don't have a single place in the county where people who speak Spanish can go to look for resources or information regardless of the city in which they live here in Solano County.

Many Solano County departments offer services in Spanish. However, it is hard for the community to know where to go to find them and they have to rely on their friends or family to find out a way to find the correct department or person within the department who may help them.

There are also many nonprofit organizations that are offering great services to the Hispanic community. However, they are still operating as islands, and don't know about each other's existence. Furthermore, some of these organizations may have the capacity to offer services to people outside their city, but they struggle to outreach and to connect with other organizations or other resources.

To solve these issues, I believe there should be a central place in Solano, where people could go to look for information for any need they may have. It shouldn't matter if they are looking to get a job, to start a new business, to file for divorce or child support, to get resources for their kids, like scholarships, help with food, housing, etc. Finally, to make it easily accessible for all people in the county, the city I propose is Fairfield, because it's already the county seat, and is centrally located (any resident could access the center within 30 minutes of driving time).

— Citlalli Flores Zepeda/ Parent Leader, PLTI

Solano-2022 cohort