CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the Cuban population in Kentucky. It has been corrected. (March 21, 2024)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville is home to a growing Cuban population. According to the Migration Policy Institute, which tabulated data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Louisville is one of the top ten metropolitan areas with the most immigrants from Cuba.

Joel Luis moved to the U.S. a year ago and is one of the 190 Cuban students at Southern High School. He says since being in Louisville, he has learned how to read, write and speak English in his English as a second language class.  

“It is exciting being able to be in a whole other country for me, but it’s also comforting to have, you know, other Cubans and Hispanic population around me. So I don’t feel like I don’t belong or I’m in a strange world and it is you’re walking around and you hear people talking in Spanish and you can say, hello, or as we say in Cuba, ‘Cómo está la cosa,’” said Luis.

ESL welcome center data coordinator for Jefferson County Public Schools, Berta Weyenberg, says Southern High School has the second largest enrollment of Cuban students in the JCPS district.

“What I can tell you, talking with hundreds of families every week, is that families are pleased with the education they are receiving in JCPS, because what we do is what you already saw here at Southern And you can see at other schools we take care of our kids and families. We go the extra mile, breaking the language barrier,” said Weyenberg.

Southern High School principal Sariena Sampson says her school has a very diverse multilingual student population and embraces their students as they acclimate to the new place.

“With Louisville being such an open and embracing place for our immigrant population, it makes me proud of my city that it’s a place that people want to live and that they feel safe and excited to be here,” said Sampson.

Vice president of the Cuban American Association of Kentucky, Luis David Fuentes, says Cubans are the largest group that continues to come to Louisville because it is a very welcoming city, with cheaper housing and a good place for families.

“Talking about the numbers, I can tell you for sure that in the last six months, more than 5,000 Cubans have arrived to Kentucky. That is an average of around 1,000 Cubans arriving per month,” said Fuentes.

Luis says since coming to the U.S. he has been exposed to opportunities that he wouldn’t have had in Cuba.

“I won’t be able to attend college, for example, if I don’t. I wasn’t being here in school and I got the opportunity to play sports and play soccer and tennis and to be connected with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Since I’m a Christian and I think all of those things are there coming as a result of me being in school,” said Luis.

To Luis, his family, and so many other Cubans, Louisville has become their second home. He will be the first in his family to attend college, attending the University of Louisville in the fall to study mathematics.