TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —”The Hispanic population In Idaho is the fastest and largest ethnic group in the state of Idaho,” Margie Gonzalez, Executive Director of the Idaho Commission of Hispanic Affairs stated.
Margie Gonzalez is Executive Director of the Idaho Commission of Hispanic Affairs, where their goal is to help Hispanic communities across Idaho.
“A little over 15 years ago we started hosting the data on Hispanic population. Not only did we collect the data we put out reports throughout the year on specific topics that are priority for the Hispanic population,” she said.
their data shows that despite being a large farming community, much of the Hispanic population in the Magic Valley isn’t just agricultural workers.
“Engineers, we have teachers, we have doctors, we have nurses, so sometimes when someone thinks about the Hispanic population, they automatically assume we are all agricultural workers and that we all work on the dairies or that we are uneducated and those are all myths that the data helps combat,” she explained.
the IHCA focuses their efforts on community outreach in rural areas, meeting with various groups, like educators and faith-based organizations.
We host an evening townhall meeting where we get a number of people who want to take to us and we’ll connect those dots like I said we’ll help our population, our community learn who their mayor is, learn for the first time who the superintendent is, who the principals are, so we’ll connect those dots for the community before we leave,” Gonzalez said.
the IHCA also hosts the Idaho Hispanic youth leadership summit each year, connecting students with a path towards higher education, “”Every child deserves to feel what it’s like to be on a campus, to envision themselves on a campus, to know there are a lot of resources and options for us regardless of who they are and who they represent.”
With an ever-growing Hispanic population, Gonzalez said the IHCA is needed in our state, “I believe like we’ve made a lot of progress, but we don’t see the equality amongst all of our communities in Idaho and being the largest and the fastest growing it’s important that we continue and are able to wrap our hands around on how fast the community is growing and what the challenges are and also what they are bringing to the state of Idaho.”
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