When the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce recognized Latino Center of the Midlands this year for Business Excellence Leadership, it confirmed what LCM executive director Albert Varas already knew.
Chamber and industry leaders look to organizations like LCM to provide gateways for people acquiring in-demand skills. The Center’s Latino client base is valued for the strong work ethic and bilingual-bicultural experience they bring to the workforce.
The Center, Varas said, engages an immigrant segment already contributing to the economy and that can contribute more with greater education and skills. LCM provides that training. Business leaders who support immigration reform for economic stimulus reasons have noticed. Since assuming his role in 2017, Varas has made LCM’s work better known in key spaces through public speaking-networking.
“I’m being deliberate in expanding our reach and connecting with businesses and industry leaders,” he said, “so I think we’re becoming more visible. We’ve invested in social media with a new website we’re proud of. It’s easy to consume. We’re showcasing what we are about and what we have available.
“Some of the programs we offer directly impact the labor market. We’re transitioning people from not having a high school diploma to getting their GED through our Adult Basic Education program. Our Pathways to Success program in schools graduates kids from low income homes. We’re doing creative new projects. too. We have a group of people participating in an ESL Construction Academy. Construction is a critical area of need for labor and we’re helping fill that gap in partnership with Heartland Workforce Solutions and Urban League of Nebraska.”
Six academy participants are developing job-ready skills and English proficiency in the trade during the six-week paid training that pilots an earn-to-learn apprenticeship model. Under seasoned pros, students are renovating an unfinished garage at the center to create new programming space. Once graduating the program, participants will have the opportunity to interview with local construction companies.
University of Nebraska at Omaha practicum students and interns as well as STEP UP high school students get real-life work experience and training at the center to make them more labor market ready.
A needs assessment resulted in a new health promotion emphasis, including a home-based gardening program Growing Wellness. Clients learn to grow their own food. eat more nutritious meals, do preventive health care and practice mindfulness. It all relates to employment, Varas said, since a healthy worker is a productive worker.
“My mindset when I came into the organization was let’s identify the things we’re doing great and do more of it and let’s innovate and create some new dynamic programming in response to multiple stakeholders.”
Since its 1971 founding LCM has emphasized meeting people where they’re at to problem-solve issues and connect resources. Board president Rev. Ernesto Medina said the center’s developed “a high level of pluralistic cultural competency” that treats clients with dignity. He said the center values bilingual-bicultural skills as marketable assets. “Bilingual-bicultural is the big prize for employers.”
Varas agrees, saying, “There’s inherent value in being able to live in both worlds. It’s an advantage from a business, employment and opportunity standpoint to be Latino, to be bilingual, to be bicultural. It’s my passion to make sure Latinos understand that.”
Center staff and board members are majority Latino and represent some 10 nations of origin. Clients represent many more cultures and languages and the center takes great pains to be culturally sensitive.
The son of Cuban immigrant parents, Varas can see himself and his family in many center clients.
“I am a first-generation American. My father obtained his GED and I saw an improved lifestyle as a result. I was a kid who struggled in school until I got help. So there’s multiple things I can identify with. I feel uniquely equipped to be a cultural ambassador between the Latino community and the wider Omaha community.”
The center is leveraging local Latino leaders well-positioned in financial, health, education and other sectors to advance community concerns.
“We have incredible human resources we can tap into in the community that are fully integrated,” Medina said, “and most of them have the center somewhere at the beginning of their resume.”
Varas sees opportunities to serve more folks.
“We’re impacting about 3,000 people annually,” he said.
“There are about 100,000 Latinos in the metro, 27 percent of which live in poverty, so that’s 27,000 people who may be able to benefit from improved education or better employment or greater access to resources. That’s what I’m excited about. We’re building the infrastructure to be able to scale up.”
But, he said, “our growth is inhibited by our building.” Lack of parking and office-service space poses limits. “We’re exploring all options. A non-negotiable is for us to remain here and to have a physical presence. I would imagine a future where this center is here but maybe all our programs don’t live here.”
The Center’s recovered from a financial and spiritual crisis a decade ago that saw it over-dependent on one funding source, disconnected from its Chicano roots and programming outside its wheel-house.
Varas said long before his arrival the board initiated positive changes. “Our portfolio is much more balanced today,” Varas said of LCM’s funding sources.
“The board made a decision to remember where we came from and what we are,” Medina said, “so the core value of the Center that we will not compromise on is education. Everything has to be about education.”
Education is a passion for Varas, who previously worked for Avenue Scholars and Building Bright Futures.
Best practices at LCM translate to “very realistic strategic initiatives,” Varas said, “that push us far enough and don’t hold us back.”
Varas takes to heart what a funder told him. “The Latino Center has been a sleeping giant that’s now waking up.”
“I think with the board and the staff we have we’re going to be doing some game-changing things and inspiring the Latinx community. We have people here able to meet not only the basic needs of new immigrants for greater economic prosperity but to also take second, third, fourth generation Latinos and provide some opportunities that get them to the next level.
“The only way we’re going to get them to realize a future that’s unimagined or otherwise unattainable is to put them in front of people like our board, staff and center alums who come from similar experiences and say, ‘Look, we did it, you can, too.'”
He wants to work with South High’s Information Technology magnet program and other partners to get more young people excited about IT careers.
His “shared leadership style” encourages robust discussion. “My approach is to get the best ideas, whether they come from clients, staff or the board. I feel very comfortable not being the one deciding everything we’re doing but taking the best ideas and moving them forward on behalf of the center as a mission.
“It definitely is not a rubber stamp board or executive leadership team. I push back and they push back. It’s very healthy. Ultimately, I carry out their will.”
The center holds occasional open houses to acquaint the community with its work. Its next showcase is the September 14 Destino Dinner at Skutt Conference Center. This annual fundraiser supports LCM’s mission.
Visit www.latinocenter.org.
Read more of Leo Adam Biga’s work at leoadambiga.com.