Leaders of a variety of organizations hope to empower Latino families in Southwest Michigan at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Thursday.
Diego Cano is the Michigan program manager of Somos Votantes, or We Are Voters, a national Latino-focused voter-engagement group. It's co-hosting the event, which is called Nuestro Futuro, or Our Future, alongside the KIA and Western Michigan University's Multicultural Affairs for Students office.
Cano said Thursday’s gathering will help connect Latino community members with a number of legal, health, educational and other resources to help them address various challenges, including the threat of detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They'll be providing information on how they can help with those legal cases if they are detained by ICE and then also they'll be providing like Know Your Rights cards. This is just in preparation in case you know there's ICE activity in our area.”
He added that financial resources will also be available.
“We invited Consumers Credit Union, who provides financial literacy courses and information on how people can also save money and how they can get ahead as well," he said.
Cano said that the organizers do have a plan "in case there is ICE activity, just because the security is the most important thing for us."
"We also don't want to not provide these resources to the community because of everything that's going on in politics and with immigration. We want to make sure that people still have access to this. It is a risk, but we also want to provide this information for our community."
But beyond resources, Cano said food and entertainment, like art pieces and raffles, will also be provided.
"With all the negative things happening in the media, it's important for the community to come together and bring some positivity into this space where we are providing all these resources, some entertainment," Cano said.
"We just want people to kind of, you know, continue coming together."
The event will be held from 6 to 8pm at the KIA.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
