Conexion Latina Newport continues to grow alongside Spanish-speaking communities it serves

NEWPORT – Conexion Latina Newport is run by women who work long hours to support Aquidneck Island’s Spanish-speaking communities. Some of the nonprofit’s core staff members are themselves immigrants from Latin American who arrived in the United States with limited English and overcame obstacles to support themselves and their families.

As Conexion Latina continues to grow and meet the needs of Aquidneck Island’s growing Spanish-speaking communities, the women who run the organization have found their voice and their vocation advocating for the men, women and children who arrive in Newport from countries like Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico on a weekly basis.

"It is amazing to see how far they have come as an organization in such a short time," said Alysson Novick, director of development at the MLK Center, pointing out Conexion Latina was only founded in 2019 and now works with the city of Newport, the town of Middletown, and a host of other local nonprofit partners to serve a community of about 3,000 people.

Conexion Latina works with strategic partners including Newport police and fire, EBCAP and the MLK Center

Conexion Latina recently completed a “Hispanic Community Needs” survey of 158 Hispanic residents of Newport and surrounding areas – the questions covered topics including key demographics, literacy, education, language proficiency and the nature of respondents’ work – and hosted a strategic partner roll out celebration and info sharing event at Innovate Newport on Thursday, May 18. Mayor Xay Khamsyvoravong, a contingent of officers from the Newport Police Department, and staff from nonprofits including Progreso Latino, EBCAP and the MLK Center were in attendance alongside a strong showing from Newport’s Guatemalan community.

Yolanda Macías, a founding member of Conexion Latina and the organization’s director of operations, spoke about her experience moving to Newport from Mexico City in 2014, being empowered by organizations like Central Falls-based worker advocacy group Fuerza Laboral, and eventually becoming a powerful advocate for Newport’s Hispanic community in her own right.

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“Every week I fill out reunification program (forms) – do you know what the reunification program is?” Macias asked the room. “(Unaccompanied) minors under 18 crossing the border.”

“Every week parents come to me,” she continued. “We help them fill out the forms, I help them buy the plane tickets online, we send them to the airport to pick up the kids… when they get back to the office, we connect them to the school system, we connect them to medical care, and I give them gift cards to cover basic needs and whatever clothes I have. We navigate with them until they get into the school system and have everything they need, and then we continue to follow up…it is never-ending. And one of the main things is to teach them how to advocate for themselves and know their rights.”

She went on to thank some of Conexion Latina’s strategic partners, taking a moment to thank the police and fire departments for their efforts to work with the Hispanic community in times of crisis.

“After you, they call me and tell me the police came,” she explained. “Good or bad, we are there for them.”

Rebekah Gomez, executive director of Conexion Latina Newport, also made a point to thank Newport's police officers for attending the event, and gave a special thank you to acting police Chief Ryan Duffy for revitalizing the department's relationship with the Hispanic community since his predecessor's departure.

What do the Hispanic Community Needs survey results show?

According to Conexion Latina, most of the respondents to the survey were from Guatemala (81%).  Most of the respondents arrived in Newport with no more than a grammar school education and limited or no ability to read or write in English.

The survey showed the average length of residency in Newport for the respondents was 6 years, most were younger than 55 years old, and “almost all of them arrived already knowing someone here and found work in the restaurant or hotel industries.”

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“In 2018, Newport started to see growth of the Hispanic community, which over the following 5 years exploded to what we estimate are over 3000 residents living, working, and raising families in Newport and surrounding areas,” said Gomez.

She continued, “Newport was unprepared for this influx of Hispanics in our schools, housing, community-based organizations and the city as a whole, and all have done a lot of work to catch up and serve the community as they deserve. But we realized that nobody was actually asking the community what they needed, what the barriers are and what services are that they were having trouble accessing. Now we have that data, those crucial relationships, and feedback from community members, that we are able to report back and act upon.”

What are Conexion Latina’s strategic priorities?

Helping community members obtain driver’s privilege cards in the wake of new state legislation allowing undocumented Rhode Islanders to legally drive. Gomez said it was quite a long process, but Conexion Latina, Progreso Latino and other organizations were working together to help community members apply.

Implementing the city of Newport’s multilingual plan, which was approved by the City Council in April 2022. Gomez said she looked forward to working with Mayor Khamsyvoravong to fully implement the plan and make sure Hispanic community members are able to walk into city hall unaccompanied and obtain basic documents like a marriage license.

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Putting together a community advisory council, members of which will be paid a stipend thanks to a $10,000 grant from the Firestone Foundation. Conexion Latina is seeking matching grants to fully fund the program including a paid committee leader and 12-15 resident advisors who will also be compensated.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Conexion Latina Newport grows alongside Hispanic communities it serves