‘A promise to our community’: Multilingual resource hub opens in North Las Vegas
Live mariachi notes and refreshments marked the opening Tuesday of a North Las Vegas facility staffed by multilingual staff who will provide workforce and technology training and health and legal services to underserved communities.
“The Dolores Huerta Resource Center is a promise to our community: We see you, we hear you and we’re here to support you,” Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown said. “This center stands on the foundation of equity, inclusion and service, all principles championed by the incredible woman whose name it bears.”
Huerta, a labor rights and feminist icon in the Chicano movement, has close ties to Nevada, where she has organized.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said the hub is the first of its kind in the state.
“Only in North Las Vegas do they always do this,” she said. “They’re always in the forefront of what is happening here.”
Cortez Masto helped secure about $1.6 million in federal funding to revitalize the former NV Energy building near City Hall.
Freshly painted, pastel-colored walls in the roomy lobby are decorated with photos of Huerta.
The center houses offices, a meeting room, a podcast studio and a computer lab where attendees could game or use the internet to apply for jobs.
Huerta said in a recorded video that she couldn’t attend the celebration but that she can’t wait to see it in person.
“There is so many needs in the community in terms of resources, in terms of education and all the services that you’re going to be providing,” Huerta said. “This is so, so important.”
‘Always call it an investment’
The center will be operated by the nonprofit group Just One Project, which specializes in food and housing insecurity, according to North Las Vegas.
City Manager Micaela Moore said that it will offer free and low-cost programming, while the city projects that the hub will help more than 2,000 people annually.
Services will also include tutoring, language classes, GED training and college preparation. It will host health screenings and counseling, legal workshops, and training in technology literacy and arts and culture, according to the city.
The professional staff is bilingual and bicultural, Goynes-Brown said. “No one will be turned away.”
“Never call that an expenditure, always call it an investment,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., about the federal dollars spent.
Rep. Steven Horsford asked the large gathering to wish Huerta, who recently turned 95, a happy birthday in a video he was going to share with her.
The elected officials were given a tour of the center before the official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“From the moment that you walk in you know you’re in a place where barriers will be broken, where voices will be heard and where futures will be transformed,” Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy II said.
North Las Vegas Councilman Isaac Barron, who grew up in the neighborhood, sniffled tears.
“It is our business, it is our duty to do everything we can to provide services to our community,” he said.
Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.