CINCINNATI — A community center is stepping up to help immigrant and Hispanic families left homeless and without English education.

What You Need To Know

  • Santa Maria Community Center in Cincinnati is running multiple programs to help Hispanic and immigrant families 

  • Organizers recently received a grant to help fund its preschool program that gives parents educational materials for their kids before they start school

  • Organizers are still trying to find more funding for its housing program after there was an increase in homeless families they help

For Elsy Moralez, the books she’s unpacking are a reminder of what it took to get to this point.

“It was it was definitely very difficult. I think leaving friends behind and then coming to a completely different country, not knowing the language and, you know, having to navigate that, it was very difficult,” said Moralez. 

She said her family had to split up to get to the U.S. from El Salvador. She said her mom was taken in as a refugee first. Then, as a kid, she came to Ohio next. 

“We were all immigrants, and we did not speak the language. We used to communicate with signs, so it was very interesting conversations, you know, going to school and all of that before learning the language,” said Moralez. 

Now, she’s the one helping educate new immigrant families making that same transition.

“I think that’s why I decided to go into the social work field. I just wanted to be able to give back to the community that helped my mom so much when she came to the states,” said Moralez. 

She’s a supervisor for a program called Promoting Our Preschools in Cincinnati. They take educational books to families to help young kids get a head start in preschool.

They recently received about $60,000 in donations to keep that program going through the Santa Maria Community Center in Cincinnati, but there’s another problem here.

“We had a huge increase in homelessness over the last year. We’re seeing a lot more families becoming evicted, displaced, removed from their homes,” said Francesca Phillis, Santa Maria housing program supervisor.

Phillis said about 40% of the people they help are Hispanic and/or immigrants, and some are ending up homeless. That’s why they’re trying to get more funding to pay for what they’ve been doing to help.

“We have stable families here to help find equitable and safe housing for the family that is also affordable and making sure that the kids are getting everything that they need to be successful,” said Phillis. 

It’s the reason Moralez keeps coming back to help families once like her own.

“It is definitely very rewarding being able to give back to my community,” said Moralez. 

For more information about programs through the Santa Maria Community Services, click here.