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Bridging the gap: Latinos Activate JoCo Champions Wellbeing and Heritage
from September 2024
by Johnston Now
By Jamie Strickland
As National Hispanic Heritage Month begins, one local nonprofit is making sure to shine a light on the Latino community in Johnston County all year round.
Latinos Activate JoCo celebrated their one year anniversary as an official nonprofit organization on Aug. 1, and is proud to be making a difference in the community.
Founder Sergio Benitez is a business owner in downtown Selma, and saw the need for an organization to help bridge the gap between the Latino community and local opportunities and resources.
Benitez and his sisters own and operate Sola Creations
Boutique, a formal wear store specializing in attire for special occasions, such as Quinceanera, prom and wedding gowns. Because of the store’s close proximity to Selma’s town hall, Spanish speaking residents would come to Benitez and ask for help conducting business.
“The community started getting to know me, so they started coming to me, asking for help. ‘Can you come to town hall and help me get my power turned on,’ things like that. So I saw that need in the area,” he said.
Benitez, whose family moved to the U.S. from Mexico when he was a kid, was appointed to serve on the town’s event committee and began helping with the annual JoCo Latino Festival. That’s where he met Kelly Blanchard, who at the time was a Town of Selma employee.
Blanchard, who co-founded the organization with Benitez, was born and raised in Johnston County. Growing up, she witnessed unequal treatment of friends who were members of the Latino community. After returning home from college she worked at the Department of Social Services and saw firsthand the need for better connections to be built. She has since completed a master’s degree, incorporating extensive research into the impact of the Hispanic community.
The group has expanded to 23 members so far, and works to promote education, health, advocacy and cultural heritage. Their funding primarily comes from donations and they
have recently received a grant from the Peace and Democracy Fund.
Latinos Activate JoCo partners with other organizations to connect members of the Latino community with resources such as business networking, healthcare information, food assistance and engagement with schools. Benitez said helping parents interact with their children’s schools is especially important.
“We want to establish a communication line for the well-being of the school and the kids as well,” he said. “We have to educate the parents too and make sure they are involved.”
They offer entrepreneurship programs and educational workshops on topics such as SAT preparation, citizenship, advocacy, home buying and financial planning.
Blanchard said that children of Hispanic descent can sometimes lose connection with their heritage after their families relocate. “You see historically that people are treated better the more Americanized they were, so basically you were Americanized or you failed,” she said.
Their group aims to improve the quality of life and help balance their Latino heritage with their American social identity.
Latinos Activate JoCo has since taken ownership of the JoCo Latino Festival, which takes place in May each year. Its primary purpose is to showcase and promote appreciation for Latino culture and heritage.
“You see the look on their faces, they haven’t seen something like that for a long time,” Benitez said of the cultural icons that are featured at the festival. “We’re trying to bring that back up for the new generations to come in and keep it going.”
According to Blanchard’s research, the Hispanic population has been steadily growing in Johnston County, with a current population of 37,968, and more than 25 percent of those are under age 20. Nearly 60 percent are U.S. born. As of 2020, Johnston County ranked fourth in the state for its Hispanic population share, with Hispanics making up 16.3% of its total population. Although official data has not been collected, it is estimated that more than 2,000 Latinoowned businesses are operating in Johnston County.
Running from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 each year, National Hispanic Heritage month is dedicated to celebrating Hispanic and Latino history and culture. The dates fall between the two months in order to include several significant independence day holidays in multiple Latin American countries.
This year, Blanchard said the Johnston County Heritage Center will house a Hispanic Heritage display, showcasing the history of Hispanic families in Johnston County and displaying items of cultural significance.
“We want to show that these families have been here, they came here as farm workers in the 60s and were an important part of the labor force. Now we see that evolving from laborers to business owners and we want to help them cross the barriers, help their businesses succeed and help them not feel isolated,” Blanchard said.
For more information visit their website at latinosactivatejoco.com.
