The Coalición Latina de Evanston, a group of about 30 Latino partners that formed earlier this year, is focusing on creating a centralized voice for Latino residents and increasing accessibility for Spanish speakers across the city.
The coalition consists of individuals and organizations.
Maria Rocio, one coordinator of the coalition, said it is important for Latino residents to have a unified voice within the city, “their voice hasn’t been put into action, their opinions haven’t been brought up when things are done, when changes are made,” Rocio said.
“We want to build that communication there and close that gap, and also within ourselves, like within our own community,” she said.
Evanston’s Latino population nearly doubled from 2000 to 2020, according to U.S. Census data. As of 2025, more than 12% of Evanston residents identify as Latino, according to U.S. Census data.
Rocio said the group hopes to act as a catch-all resource for Spanish-speaking residents, “The sky’s the limit on this one, as much support as and as many resources that we can help the community put together, we want to facilitate that.”
In June, the group held its first community forum inviting Latino residents to discuss gaps and resources. Rocio said it gave residents a “place to be able to give their opinions.”
“They were finally being heard and I think that was what was missing,” she said. “There’s not a lot of communication between like the city and the Latino community, and I feel like a lot of the time they just get kind of overlooked, and our voice doesn’t really get a say into the things that are important,” she said.
Rocio added that for many residents who spoke at the forum, there has been a mistrust between them and the city, “there’s no driving force from the city saying ‘hey, you guys are welcome too.’”
“We’ve heard a lot of people talking about summer programming, but they don’t know about them, so there’s no way for them to get these resources because nobody is out there telling them hey this is available to you in their native language or just able to guide them.”
Rocio said the group is gearing up to gather this community input and meet with the city to implement changes to increase accessibility, like adding a central Spanish translation to the city’s website and having on-site translators at City Council meetings.
Ricardo Villalobos, another coordinator of the coalition, said even meeting as a central group has been “powerful” for the Latino community. The coalition meets biweekly to discuss and plan its goals.
“Consistently coming together to get to know each other as community leaders, understanding each other’s initiatives, goals, work styles has been the biggest part of the work,” he said. “There has been a long history of segmentation amongst our Latino leaders in Evanston … so the first step has been ‘let’s just get in a room together.’”
From the community forum, Villalobos said representation was a key issue residents brought up.
“We know all of the gaps that exist in many parts of our community, whether it’s education, civic engagement, the housing conversations and we’re not at the table,” he said. “We’re not consistently showing up or asked to be at the table to help kind of steer these conversations and making sure that our fast-growing Latino population is represented.”
In earlier remarks this year, Villalobos said the idea to form the coalition took shape after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Evanston last October.
“The way that we saw the community react, often we weren’t centered in those communications and those efforts. It really highlighted to us that we need to be the ones leading and being in the forefront of things that impact our community directly,” Villalobos said.
City spokesperson Cynthia Vargas said the city has engaged with the new coalition, with Deputy City Manager Carina Sánchez, Vargas and staff from the Robert Crown Branch Library acting as the city’s representatives.
“As opportunities arise, the city seeks to support the work of organizations that serve Evanston residents and foster community engagement,” Vargas wrote in an email.
Members of the coalition also include local entrepreneurs, Open Communities, Latinos en Evanston Northshore, the YWCA Evanston/Northshore, Evanston Latinos, the Evanston Public Library, the City of Evanston, Family Focus, the Evanston Community Foundation and Community Organizing and Family Issues.
