‘Unwelcome’ at Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho, Latinos support city takeover

Latino community leaders and activists, young and old, lined up in Nampa City Council chambers to show their support for the city’s decision to take over the Hispanic Community Center of Idaho. For years community members said they have watched the center deteriorate physically and become an exclusive place for only a handful of individuals.

“With sadness I have watched the building falling in disrepair,” said Ana Maria Schachtell, the original founder of the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho. “The problem I see is that the organization needs new ideas and younger talent. And it seems to me that the leaders want to keep it to themselves as if it were private property.”

Schachtell spoke, along with five others, during a news conference hosted by Poder of Idaho, a nonprofit that supports Latinos and immigrant communities, and the city of Nampa. The city announced its plans to take over operation of the cultural center Monday.

“We stand in solidarity next to many who support the new transition for the Hispanic Cultural Center,” said Ruby Mendez-Mota, co-executive director of Poder of Idaho. “Now we have the opportunity as leaders to work with the city of Nampa to revitalize the building for the benefit of the Latinx community and make it a space where we can share our culture and traditions with the city and the state … and build it for future generations.”

The Nampa City Council on Monday is scheduled to extend the leases of the businesses that remain in the center. After that, Mayor Debbie Kling said she expects the city to begin taking requests for proposals for the use of the building. The city plans to continue to host any scheduled events at the cultural center.

Kling hopes to disturb the existing businesses in the buildings as little as possible. But one business, Nuestra Gente Wellness, had its schedule disrupted by police presence at the center throughout the week.

Antonio Hernandez, a business owner and advocate for the Latino community in Idaho, said the community groups and city spent long hours in meetings trying to decide what to do about the cultural center.

“I’m glad that we have a mayor who is willing to listen and we have a City Council that is eager to work with us,” Hernandez said.

‘Lack of inclusiveness’ in cultural center

The city’s decision wasn’t a shock to some, since Nampa officials said they had been meeting with current Director Humberto Fuentes for months and had begun court proceedings to end the building lease in December.

Contrary to what Fuentes told the Idaho Statesman in an interview Monday, Kling said the city plans to turn building operations over to the Hispanic community, once a plan is in place for what to do with it. Fuentes told the Statesman that he suspected the city wanted the building for its monetary value.

“It is not the intent of the city this is a ‘city building,’ ” Kling said. “This is the Hispanic community’s cultural center, and it will continue to be.”

Schachtell said two years after stepping away from her role at the Hispanic Cultural Center for health reasons, she tried to get involved again. But she said she felt unwelcome in the building because of Fuentes and former leadership. And she wasn’t the only one.

“Board members and other people in the community began calling me complaining about different issues, such as lack of inclusiveness,” she said.

Organizations like Poder and activists like Schachtell have tried to support the cultural center over the years, by leasing office space and booking events at the location. But they felt unwelcome and eventually felt compelled to leave.

“This space needs to feel welcome, help break barriers down and be a place of growth for our beloved community,” Mendez-Mota said.

Younger generation of activists step up to lead

The Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho opened in 2003, with the city of Nampa charging the center just $1 a year for a 50-year lease.

Now, 20 years later, many in the Canyon County Latino community said it’s time for the younger generation of Latino activists and community leaders to define the role of the cultural center.

Irma Morin, executive director of the Community Council of Idaho, said she sees the role of the center to “hold our generations together” and to “provide opportunities for us all to gather and celebrate.”

“If we nurture its role over time, it will embrace each generation and grow and change as our Hispanic cultures in Idaho do,” Morin said. “And most importantly, it will allow us to explore who we are as people within Idaho today and tomorrow. Let’s find ways to express the new voices of our community.”

Schachtell, who founded the center, said she was thankful for the younger generation of leaders who “had the courage to speak and get the building back to the community.”