El Centro Hispanoamericano
Created in 1984, El Centro has a history of counseling and legally representing low-income immigrants, including those who are undocumented. El Centro represents people without regard to country of origin, but primarily serves the Spanish-speaking community. All of their staff members are fluent in Spanish. In addition to legal assistance, El Centro offers ESL, Citizenship, and Literacy courses as part of its effort to help immigrants become productive members of their community. El Centro also runs a small emergency food pantry for those in need and provide personal “advocates” for those seeking services from public and private agencies.
We had the pleasure of visiting El Centro Hispanoamericano in Plainfield, to have an interview with Executive Director, Silvia Hernández. Ms. Hernández provided us with valuable information with regard to protections provided to undocumented survivors and their families such as U Visas and T Visas. She also shared details on all of the support services the organization provides. That information can be found on their website and their Facebook page.
