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Become a Compañero
Our Members Stand Together In 2006, North Carolina enacted laws which prevent most people in our Latino community from obtaining or renewing their driver’s license. The effects of this law have been far reaching and debilitating, denying our neighbors not only the right to drive, but many other necessary services as well. When businesses and [...]
Access
The Center’s Equal Access Equal Success Program provided over 1200 services in the past 12 months, helping Latinos access basic health, legal, and social services! Centro de Enlace helps hundreds of Latino immigrants each year to successfully navigate life in the U.S. Through our Equal Access Equal Success Program, promotoras facilitate access to all types [...]
Community Organizing
Every month Community members and Centro de Enlace’s staff gather together to discuss community issues. These Community Gatherings use popular education to increase community knowledge about immigrant rights and legislation and address community concerns. At Gatherings, participants brainstorm and work to design community solutions and responses to current immigrant realities and crisis. The [...]
About Our Community
Cheran, Michoacan The Latino community in Yancey County is one with a rich heritage, a long history in America, and a fascinating cultural tradition. Most have made their way to the mountains of Western North Carolina from the mountainous farmlands of Michoacán, in Mexico travelling some 2,000 miles to find the geographic and agricultural features of their homeland, while seeking economic viability and a better future for their children. The mountainous geography of Michoacan is similar to that of Western North Carolina. Most immigrants to Yancey County are native Americans and hail from villages and towns in the northwest of Michoacán such as Cherán, Sevina, Comachuen, Nahuatzén, Paracho, Arantepacua, and Uruapan. These indigenous people of Michoacán still identify as Purépecha, also known as Tarascans (so named by the Spanish). Though speaking Spanish and having adopted many other aspects of modern Mexican culture, the Native American language, Purépecha, is the first language...
What's New at Centro de Enlace
Summer Writing Camp
Centro de Enlace is proud to welcome back Laura Boffa, a VISTA worker who served at the Center in 2009. She will be returning to Burnsville this summer to coordinate a summer writing camp for seventh through ninth grade Latino students from Yancey County Schools. Laura had been looking for an opportunity to work with our community again and took the initiative to apply for a grant from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation that will be used to fund the program. Students who wish to improve...
