Visit to mission district working with latino, chicano, central, and south american immigrants

Having all of the goals have helped us, as a group, decide where to begin our research. The first thing we did was go to the internet. Each of us did some research online in order to find out about more about the different centers which help immigrants in the urban community. We then decide to go further with this and actually visit the centers in order to get a more personal account of life for these immigrants.

Immediately we looked the Mission District which works with a large number of the Latino, Chicano, Central, and South American immigrant population. We also looked at the Dolores Street Community Services Center. This center works to provide many homeless people with affordable housing and helps empower some of its low-income residents living in San Francisco.

We met Marlon Mendieta, the Housing Program Director of Dolores Street Community Service Center. She gave us a short summary of her center. She explained to us the steps they are taking in order to help underprivileged people in their community. She also provided us with information on how they are trying to create a healthy community where everybody has equal rights regardless of income, immigration or health status.

After we spoke with Mrs. Mendieta we went to the women’s building where we interviewed Yeni Solis, the Reception Coordinator. She explained the center’s mission statement to us and told us that their goal is to empower women and girls in society by providing them with services and programs to become more self-sufficient.

The last stop for our team was The Mission Cultural Center Latino where we met Christina who was originally from Argentina. She told us about her unique experience with the center. She has been taking dancing classes and she told us how she is happy about being more involved with the community.

All of these centers gave us a more defining picture of the immigrant’s life in an urban community and a centers role in helping them adjust to life in America. Our group chose to not just browse the internet but to go to these centers and interview the staff and the immigrants. We wanted to have a genuine experience and to see exactly how the immigrants are living and adjusting to life in the United States.