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Article published Sep 21, 2006

Leaders to visit Mexico to learn

By Jennifer Fernandez
Staff Writer

Who’s going?
Margaret Arbuckle, executive director, Guilford Education Alliance

Tom Bonney, executive director, Family Services of the Piedmont

Cmdr. Lawrence Casterline, High Point Police

Tania Castillero, director, Latino Family Center of Catholic Social Services

Kris Cooke, Guilford County Board of Education

Kathy Hinshaw, N.C. Center for New North Carolinians

Maggie Jeffus, N.C. House

Anthony Newkirk, chief diversity officer, High Point Regional Health System

Donna Newton, Greensboro Neighborhood Information Center

Maj. Tom Sheppard, Guilford County Sheriff’s Office

Bernita Sims, High Point City Council

Debbie Cole, assistant director, Christians United Outreach Center

Diane Frost, Asheboro City Schools superintendent

David Jarrell, Asheboro mayor

Denny Mecham, executive director, Seagrove Pottery

Lt. Ralph Norton, Asheboro Police

Juan Rios, president, Latino Coalition of Randolph County

Kimberly Williams, plant manager, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.

June Atkinson, state superintendent

Axel Lluch, director, N.C. Office of the Governor, Hispanic/Latino Affairs

Melissa Edwards, Latino Initiative program manager, Center for International Understanding

Matty Lazo-Chadderton, director of Hispanic/Latino Affairs, Office of the President Pro TemporeLocal leaders want to learn more about their newest residents, the rapidly growing Hispanic population, to serve them better.

So nearly a dozen officials, representing government, education and nonprofit agencies from Greensboro and High Point will leave Tuesday for Mexico. They'll visit schools, hospitals and government agencies in Mexico City and Puebla, a city 60 miles southeast of Mexico City.

They'll also take day trips and visit with individual families, said Kris Cooke, a Guilford County Board of Education member.

The trip, which also includes representatives from Randolph County and the state, is part of the Center for International Understanding's Latino Initiative and is funded through grants.

The center last sent a group of Guilford officials to Mexico in 2002. The group included Robert Newton, president of the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation.

"It's just a real awakening, if you will, to the cultural issues that affect our relationships and how we as a community can be more responsive (to immigrants)," he said.

Since then, the foundation's support of the Center for New North Carolinians has helped create a pool of foreign-language interpreters to help immigrants communicate their needs, he said.

Cooke said this year's group plans to come up with ways to help when they return from their seven-day trip.

One idea they're exploring is to improve access to services, maybe creating a central location to get information, she said.

Founded in 1979, the Raleigh-based Center for International Understanding is a public-service program of UNC. The Latino Initiative is an effort to help policymakers better serve the growing Latino population.

Census data show that from 1990 to 2000, Guilford County's Hispanic population grew from 2,900 to about 16,000. In an eight-county area including Guilford, that population grew ninefold, from just under 6,900 residents to more than 62,200.

In Guilford County Schools, Hispanics make up the largest portion of students in the English as a Second Language program. Many have ties to Mexico.

Margaret Arbuckle, executive director of the Guilford Education Alliance, hopes the trip will provide insights into Hispanic culture and lead to a better understanding of what Latinos' needs are here.

"I'm really excited about it," Arbuckle said. "I think it's a great opportunity."

Since 1998, nearly 300 policy leaders from 18 counties have participated in the Latino Initiative, the center said.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jfernandez@news-record.com


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