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Latinos in N.H dream of a place to reconnect with their culture and put down roots

Traditional masks, tapestry, and art adorned the old Latinamerican Center's walls. Castillo and other workers of the Latin American Center are holding a traditional food lunch. The center did various cultural events, like that one, each year.
Courtesy / Eva Castillo
Traditional masks, tapestry, and art adorned the old Latin American Center. Eva Castillo and other workers held various cultural events each year. In this photo from the 90s, they celebrate with a traditional lunch.

On the corner of Maple Street and Nashua Street in Manchester, there is a two-story house with a large tree outside the front door. For nearly 40 years, this structure was home to the Latino Center, a place where women would share recipes and stories, and where more severe concerns, like landlord-tenant problems and domestic violence issues, were resolved.

That’s the vision its founder, Eileen Phinney, had when she founded the center in 1971.

The first wave of Latinos arriving in New Hampshire came from Uruguay in the 1960s. A textile factory brought people from small communities, and many new arrivals didn't speak English.

Phinney, who was Uruguayan herself, and had built a successful life in Manchester, wanted to give them a place where they would feel close to their country and, at the same time, connect them with the broader community.

The center was full of life and culture, says Eva Castillo, an early employee at Latino Center.

Castillo remembers helping Spanish speakers with interpretation when they needed medical care or going with them to file a claim about unfair labor practices.

“And many came just to have someone to talk with,” Castillo said.

Eileen Phinney left Uruguay at age 20 and eventually settled in New Hampshire in 1969. She was named N.H Woman of the Year in 2002. Castillo remembers her as a woman with a big heart who would go to great lengths to help Latinos.
Courtesy / Eva Castillo
Eileen Phinney left Uruguay at age 20 and eventually settled in New Hampshire in 1969. She was named N.H Woman of the Year in 2002. Castillo remembers her as a woman with a big heart who would go to great lengths to help Latinos.

But after Phinney died in 2009, keeping the center funded became increasingly difficult. Little by little, the dream of giving Latinos a safe place faded after the center passed to another organization's hands. The focus shifted from only serving Latinos to serving all refugees. Finally, the center stopped operating.

“It was devastating. People didn't know where to go,” Castillo says.

Since then, Castillo and other advocates have struggled to raise funds to re-establish the center. They say grants to support a center exclusively for Latinos have been challenging to find.

Some communities do have a central gathering spot, like Indonesian Community Connect on the Seacoast. But Latinos, despite being the largest minority in the state, don’t have a place to reconnect with their culture or have a home that represents them; this leaves them without a place to go when they need help or simply a place to feel connected.

Cristina acutely felt that need when she arrived in New Hampshire in 2014, following the death of her husband in Mexico at the hands of a cartel. (We are not using her real name to protect her identity.)

While she first felt a sense of relief and safety, rebuilding a new life in a new country alone was challenging and confusing to navigate.

“I didn’t understand what was happening,” says Cristina.

She says a Latino center would have provided not just the practical support she needed, but also a community of people to share with.

Cristina has been looking for resources and information to send her daughter to college. It has been challenging to learn about the process, and she hopes there is a center that could help her in Spanish.
Gaby Lozada
Cristina has been looking for resources and information to send her daughter to college. It has been challenging to learn about the process, and she hopes there is a center that could help her in Spanish.

Oftentimes, supporting new arrivals falls informally to people like Angela Mercado, a well-seasoned activist in Nashua who helps the Latino community, sharing her phone number with those who need assistance.

Mercado has opened her own small Latino Center in Nashua. However, she thinks of it as a small remedy. She wants to collaborate as much as possible with others working towards the same objective of opening a larger, fully-staffed cultural center.

In its absence, Mercado and Castillo worry about “agencias multiservicios,” or multi-service agencies — businesses that usually operate out of storefronts and offer translation and legal advice without expertise. The two women say both services are set at prices that take advantage of people.

“Latinos are tricked into paying more than necessary,” Mercado said.

Wary of those businesses, Mercado is trying to provide similar services through a small program at her Pentecostal Church in Nashua.

Two volunteers will work in Mercado's resource center. “Iglesia Pentecostal Unidos en Santidad,” gathers more than 100 families every Sunday. She says the pastors opened the church doors without asking too many questions. “The space was empty and ready to be used by the community,” said one of the pastors.
Gaby Lozada
Two volunteers work in Mercado's resource center, “Iglesia Pentecostal Unidos en Santidad,” where more than 100 families gather most Sundays. She says the pastors opened the church doors without asking too many questions. “The space was empty and ready to be used by the community,” said Margarita García, one of the pastors.

As she gives a tour of the classroom and pantry, she says this center will not be tied to a religious faith.

For Castillo, that’s important for a future Latino center because she believes people from all backgrounds should feel safe and encouraged to go. She is reluctant to associate with a church after a small Latino center was established at Saint Anne-San Agustin Parish in Manchester in 2019. Castillo says, recently, it has become a pastoral service, limiting the kind of social support and programming that can happen.

At Mercado’s center, she hopes to eventually pay those who volunteer, and grow its roster of programs.

While they know there are many challenges, Mercado and Castillo keep working toward their goal because, they say, the way to build a more united Latino community is by building connections.

Traditional masks, tapestry, and art adorned the old Latinamerican Center's walls. Today, another organization that has nothing to do with Latino culture has taken over the house.
Gaby Lozada
The two-story house in Manchester where the old Latin American center operated is now inhabited by another organization. Castillo says she misses the house, and for years she kept going just to remember the good old days.

Gabriela Lozada is a Report for America corps member. Her focus is on Latinx community with original reporting done in Spanish for ¿Qué hay de Nuevo NH?.