Consejo Hispano, a non-profit organization headquartered in Astoria, serving the Latinx community for over 15 years, has provided increasing support and services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Local economies and the community at large have suffered greatly with the pandemic, but conditions have been much worse for the Latinx community due to the higher risk of transmission at many of their jobs (agriculture, canneries, service industry), a lack of language access, and being left out of federal resources and economic support due to immigration status. Consejo Hispano is providing services and resources meant to alleviate these hardships in addition to the services already provided by the organization in Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia Counties in Oregon as well as Pacific County in Washington.
Consejo Hispano has provided direct crucial services to over 3,000 members of the community including: over $160,000 in stipend checks and food assistance gift cards, advocacy for safer work conditions, COVID-19 wraparound support services in Spanish for quarantined families and individuals, coordinating flu clinics, and free distribution of facemasks, PPE, thermometers, hand sanitizer and pulse oximeters.
They also assisted families with students transitioning to remote learning by collaborating with Astoria and Seaside School District communications, providing free hotspots and Chromebooks to kids struggling with connectivity, Early-learning trainings for parents, and educational activities.
Additionally, Consejo Hispano is one of the founding community partners for the Oregon Worker Relief Fund (OWRF), a disaster relief fund that has distributed over $100 million to qualifying Oregonians, helping thousands of immigrant families directly impacted by the pandemic throughout the state of Oregon, as well as being the fiscal agent for the Small Enterprise Fund. “We’re very proud to be a part of the Oregon Worker Relief Fund,” said Jenny Pool Radway, Consejo Hispano’s Executive Director. “All of our work in response to the pandemic locally and statewide wouldn’t be possible without the outstanding work and partnerships established by our previous leadership, our founders, board members and of course, our hardworking staff.”
Sharing accurate information from reliable sources, as well as services/resources available to the community, and emergency warnings during wildfires or disasters is also a priority for the Consejo Hispano team. Jenny Pool Radway shared, “During the pandemic most communications and interactions shifted to digital and social media platforms. There’s an added difficulty for the Hispanic community to access opportunities and resources because information is often only available in English, and the sign-up process is not as easy and straightforward for non-English speakers. We strive to bridge that gap by relaying information in a culturally appropriate and responsive manner as well as assisting folks with various application processes, including COVID-19 vaccinations.”
To find out more about Consejo Hispano services and resources, go to www.consejohispano.org or
