October is Hispanic Heritage Month. Carlos Graupera is the CEO of Tec Centro Workforce Center and spent 50 years as the CEO of the Spanish American Civic Association. He joined The Spark to share the importance of highlighting Hispanic Heritage month.

“It is appropriate that Latinos and Latinos in Pennsylvania, because that's where we're at, that community is celebrated because it's roughly 8% of the state population. It is not an insignificant group of people, and it's continues to grow and it's making its presence in some very important urban areas. Allentown, Bethlehem. Redding, of course, Philadelphia, Lancaster and beyond. Those city centers are being revitalized by the influx of Latinos, setting up businesses, buying homes and really providing the energy so that these cities are able to rethink themselves.”

Tec Centro in Lancaster offers bilingual education and skill training in Lancaster. Throughout the month, the organization will highlight the impact of investing in diverse workforce development.

“We're busy training people day in and day out so that they can climb out of poverty. And that's important because among Latinos, the poverty rate is 32% compared to all Pennsylvanians, about 14%. So, we have a lot of work to do. And we try to train people as best we can so that they can, one at a time, overcome poverty, become part of the economic mainstream, become homeowners. And that's our celebration of the Hispanic Heritage Month. Just keep doing what we're doing over and over again.”

 

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