Latinos en Spokane, a nonprofit serving the Latino community, has continued to grow despite funding cuts and the country’s current immigration climate, in which the organization’s constituents are being targeted, says Executive Director Jennyfer Mesa.

While immigration cases surge and families report rising fears of detention or consider self-deportation, the nonprofit’s budget has dropped 40%, prompting staff cuts and a recalibration of duties, says Mesa. 

Still, new programs have taken root: a formal immigration department was launched last year, a new low-cost commercial kitchen for small business operations was completed and accompanies the organization’s rentable food truck for small entrepreneurs, and Latinos en Spokane established its own bilingual driver’s education program, dubbed Academia.

Mesa says the organization’s growth and relevance are coupled with the population’s needs. Out of the thousands of nonprofits in the region, only a handful are focused on serving the rising needs of Spokane’s fastest-growing population, she says.

“We’re constantly asking ourselves how we stay relevant, how we bridge the gaps in the system to empower our community,” Mesa says.

One of the clearest examples of that gap-filling approach is the organization’s bilingual driver’s license program.

Over the last two years, Latinos en Spokane has been offering a free Driver’s Ed 101 course, says Mesa, and has graduated over 120 students. The program rose from community demand and a need to understand how the U.S. driver’s system works to create better road safety, Mesa explains.

Initially, the organization contracted with external driving instructors, but that was expensive and limited the number of people the organization could serve, Mesa says. Those constraints led the organization to decide to invest in its own driver’s education vehicle and a 360-degree driving simulator for youth and other individuals with no experience driving.

Most recently, the organization passed an audit with the Washington State Department of Licensing and is now authorized to provide a comprehensive driver’s education program at its headquarters in the St. Cloud Building, at 1502 N. Monroe, in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood. Academia offers teen driver’s education, adult driver’s education, written test preparation, and Washington state driver's guide instruction. The program has the ability to conduct testing as well, Mesa says. A full course will cost about $325, which is about half the cost of what some other programs charge, she adds.

Academia is expected to publicly launch the first week of December.

“Because of funding cuts, we’re getting creative of how we’re going to continue serving the community,” Mesa says. “It’s still 50% less than all the other driver’s-ed programs out here because we want to reach folks that are low-income and reach folks that need a bilingual education.”

As such, the organization recently launched a holiday fundraiser campaign selling empanadas and tamales, called Feed the Movement, Mesa adds.

Just as Academia was built in response to a practical, everyday barrier, Mesa says the organization has taken a similar approach with food access and small business development. The mindset has led to the creation of a commercial kitchen at the center’s headquarters, a rentable food truck, and the expansion of the organization’s food bank program dubbed El Mercadito.

El Mercadito has grown to an almost-monthly food market and festival, says Mesa. In the summer, the market is held at Liberty Park, and in the winter, it is hosted at the West Central Community Center. Through the El Mercadito program, Latinos en Spokane has served about 150 to 170 families per month, offering free fresh cultural foods, equaling about 12,000 pounds of food per month. The program emphasizes providing fresh food over canned preserved food, she explains.

“We also have vendors and food businesses that are at the market,” Mesa says. “It’s a joyful space.”

With ongoing immigration raids impacting the Latino community, the nonprofit has also partnered with Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane, which provides trained volunteers who provide peacekeeping activities and monitor outside of events for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, she says.

“We are on guard, but we also have a lot of support from the community and volunteers that are helping us sustain our programs,” Mesa says.

El Mercadito’s annual budget is about $200,000 and is funded through donations from Seattle-based Northwest Harvest/E.M.M., Spokane-based Second Harvest Inland Northwest, Spokane-based Catholic Charities Eastern Washington, as well as support from local farmers, she says.

In addition, the center’s small business development program focuses on making food businesses accessible to launch through its 8-week Street Food Incubator program, which provides pathways to overcome barriers to business ownership, Mesa says. The program offers members rentable pop-up booth supplies, access to a commercial kitchen, Occupational Safety and Health Administration training, and, for businesses that have gone through business startup coaching, a rentable food truck that grants access to mobility and catering without the overhead costs of owning a vehicle.

The food business course typically starts in the winter to prepare businesses to launch by spring, she says. 

The commercial kitchen can be rented for about $12 an hour and has recently been certified by the Washington State Department of Health to allow food packaging and allow businesses to register with online mobile platforms that deliver take-out, she says. The food truck, she adds, is weather-friendly with heating and air conditioning and allows vendors to continue operating in winter.