With the diversification of the population there are starting to be cultural shifts. Both Garden City and Liberal now have two people of color on their respective city commissions. Kathleen Alonso is a civic engagement coordinator for the nonprofit New Frontiers. She was encouraged to run for local office after seeing the community embrace the majority minority, electing two Hispanic people to the city commission. Her campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, but she said the trend continues. “I’ve seen a lot more people that look and speak like me in more positions of power,” she said. Alonso knows all too well the struggles of an immigrant in rural Kansas. She grew up in a place lacking resources for children that looked like her, despite most of the children looking like her by 2010. “I had to translate for my parents, documents with my teachers and all that stuff,” Alonso said. “My mom was deported when I was 16, so immigration issues are really dear to my heart.” Immigrants not only support the economy through meatpacking, but now they provide essential services, like health care, education and grocery stores. And major organizations like schools and churches are starting to adapt. Jonathan Zamora is a pastor for Crosspoint, an English-speaking Christian church in Liberal. His parents came to southwest Kansas from Nicaragua to seek work and education opportunities in the late 1980s. Zamora has used his parents’ experiences to guide how he leads his church, reaching out to the Latino community and offering them leadership positions within the church. “As our community changes, organizations have to change, too, and our church needed to change,” Zamora said.
Source: KAKE – News
