After leaving the Peace Corps in Panama 10 years ago, Soraya Valdez Place learned the Centro Latino Hickory website was written solely in English.
“I remember googling Latino community associations, anything in this area,” Place said. “I saw that Central Latino was here, but everything was in English, and when I saw that I thought, ‘Wait, so who is this for?’”
Now the Program Coordinator & Social Media Specialist, Place spends most of her time connecting with people and creating programming that caters to Hickory’s Latin community through food trucks, sales, performances and more.
One of those efforts is Todos Somos América (We Are ALL America), Centro Latino Hickory’s annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration. Now in its fourth year, Place and Executive Director Ginny Romero Hill have helped develop the festival from merely an idea to an annual recognition of community and belonging.
“It’s been great bringing the community together, seeing so many people from so many different walks of life, different backgrounds, just coming together to celebrate the positive impact that our community has on the larger community,” Hill said. “It’s been very inspiring.”
The festival features face painting, food trucks, vendors, traditional dance performances and music from multiple Latin American countries. However, Todos Somos América extends far beyond a celebration of culture.
Through the presentation of the Abriendo Puertas scholarship, the Outstanding Latino Award for Catawba County and the Centro Latino Best Ally Award presentations, impactful members of the Hickory Latin community earn the platform to give back to the town that shaped them.
The award recipients are chosen by a committee separate from Centro Latino Hickory.
Abriendo Puertas, or “Opening Doors,” offers programming and educational resources for students to “build bridges and strengthen connections within our communities,” according to the Centro Latino Hickory website.
“Sometimes it’s just they’re one lab away from graduating and they can’t afford that,” Hill said. “While we can’t give full-ride scholarships, the scholarships that we are providing is helping these students pursue their career dreams, and it’s open to everyone.”
The Best Ally Award is given to a local community partner that helps support Centro Latino Hickory’s mission, and the Outstanding Latino Award for Catawba County is given to a person of Latino descent who has given back to the community.
“The truth is, it’s been a recognition that has been long overdue because we have so many organizations that have been supporting Central Latino for years and years, I mean, seriously, generations,” Place said. “This is something that we’re going to add this year that I’m excited about, to put those names out there so people can see who has been behind Central Latino for a long time.”
Hill said the first award they gave for Outstanding Latino Award for Catawba County was given to a restaurant owner who distributes food to homeless people in the area. The Centro Latino Hickory office is now located down the street from the restaurant.
Place said the City of Hickory and Catawba County give a proclamation of Hispanic Heritage Month, both in English and Spanish, to recognize the work of the Latin community.
“The Latinos are, you know, teachers that are teaching their students, the Latinos are part of the community,” Place said. “I think that that’s very important, especially when you are not from this area, but also when you have an accent or when you’re a minority, right? You feel like ‘Not everybody looks like me,’ but just being recognized, I think it’s what people really like.”
Hill said a large part of the festival is being able to pass on not only cultural history to future generations but also a sense of pride in one’s history.
“We’re all very proud to live here, to be a part of this community, but we also are very proud of our roots and of our culture,” Hill said. “It’s just exciting to see people get excited to see that representation. And in our little Hickory, you know?”