Final Paper: Identity, Service, and American Democracy

Carlos Eduardo Panduro

Identity and National Service in the City of Minneapolis

Jonathan Koppell

12/9/2020

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Introduction

The state of Minnesota has a predominantly white population in Metro areas and its

surrounding suburbs. Minnesota, according to the census bureau, has a population of 5,303,925

but only 5.6% of the population is Hispanic or Latinx. Focusing more on the population in the

city of Minneapolis, out of an estimated population of ​429,606, only 9.6% of that population is

Hispanic or Latinx. Even though Latinx and Hispanic population in Minnesota accounts for one

of the smallest ethnic groups, there was still a lack of resources for this community. The Latinx

and Hispanic population has been a group that has been underserved and Centro Tyrone

Guzman has served as a tool of visibility by educating the future generations, which is why

Centro is located at the heart of a Latinx neighborhood

Centro Tyrone Guzman, formally known as Centro Cultural Chicano, is a Minneapolis

non-profit organization established in 1974. The mission for this organization, stated above, was

to create a center of resources that the Latinx community in Minneapolis could benefit from for

generations to come.

History

Centro Tyrone Guzman’s mission statement:

“Centro Tyrone Guzman is committed to the well-being of Latine families through

providing a holistic approach to education, health, and wellness.”

Centro Tyron Guzman started as a grass-roots organization led by professor Marcela

Lucero Trujillo from the University of Minnesota and a group of community advocates known as

Chicanos Venceran that noticed a lack of resources in education in the Latinx community. With

the help of a small grant, In 1974, Trujillo was able to start the organization and named it Centro

Cultural Chicano.

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 Some of the organization's first programs were offered to Latinx women and children that

focused on health, education, but later evolved to include senior citizens, employment crisis,

and housing. A few decades later, a different group of community organizers followed the

example of the founders and with the help of a new executive director, Tyrone Guzman, they

were able to reinvent the organization. Throughout Guzman’s 13 years of service, he was able

to strengthen the educational programs and started an accredited bilingual preschool called

Siembra, a youth program called Raices and a senior program called Wise Elders program.

These services were started as a way to address the causes of poverty and expanding

physical and mental health services within the Latinx community. Most commonly known in the

community as Centro, for short, has since provided low cost and free multigenerational

programs to the local community in Minneapolis.

Identity

The community engaged in Centro is generally made up of immigrant, working class,

and low income communities. Centro uses their identities to fuel their Siembra and Raices

programs through a cultural approach. Siembra’s preschool program had youth younger than 5

years old and Raices youth program ranged from ages 12 to 18. Both programs use Spanish

and English to inspire the youth to embrace their bilingualism. The majority of the youth spoke

Spanish in their household and Centro encouraged the youth to be proud of their languages.

There was an initiative to allow participants in programs to collaborate with one another.

For example, the Siembra preschool program incorporated activities with the Wise Elders

program in order to reduce the intergenerational gap between family members. The participants

in the Wise Elders program would share stories to the Siembra youth about their upbrings in

their native country. The Wise Elders also interacted and worked with the Raices youth program

to create a salsa recipe for entrepreneurship activities. Eventually, the youth from the Raices

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program began to sell their salsas in local farmer’s markets. Activities like these helped the

participants of each program engage with each other and create community.

Each program’s vision is to connect the younger generations to older generations to

share their life experiences and carry on their traditions. In other forms of identity, Centro

recently released a inclusivity statement to support the LGBTQ community. Centro has evolved

to become more inclusive of every identity that intersects with the Latinx community. These

steps have been taken in the hopes to create tolerance and acceptance in the families that have

children which identify as members of the LGBTQ community.

Civic Engagement & Social Capital

Centro Tyrone Guzman as an organization has always worked to identify the needs of

the community to improve the welfare of those who identify as Latinx. Often working with other

organizations such as clinics and shelters that offer other services that will help improve the

knowledge of community participants. The lack of sexual education attained within poor families

has been a factor for teen childbirth among teens in the U.S. Centro has worked to create a

comprehensive, culturally- and age-appropriate curriculum in hopes to reduce the Latinx teen

pregnancy rates.

According to the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, “​Per 1,000 Hispanic

teens aged 15 to 17 years old, the birth rate was 25.5 percent while the total birth rate per 1,000

teens across all ethnicities in the same age group was 14.1 percent, according to the CDC Vital

Signs​.” Centro took action and decided to create a program that educated youth about sexual

health. The Raices youth program educates youth about consent, contraceptives, and gives

them information on teen friendly clinics. When the state of Minnesota is compared to other

countries’ teen birth rates around the world, Minnesota's rate is still higher than 50 other states,

according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

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 Centro’s participants have also been a part of local protests against police brutality and

took a stand to support the Black Lives Matter movement. By doing so, Centro is showing

solidarity to a community that continues to be oppressed shares some social and economic

similarities.

American Democracy

Centro as a non-profit organization is in itself political action. They are teaching youth of

all ages to be proud of their heritage, they are taking care of elders, and they are helping reduce

the teen pregnancy rates among our community.

Centro has also mobilized to educate their participants about the importance and impact

of the census. Participants take part in learning about the census to later educate other

communities members in churches and schools. Another form which Centro participates in

American Democracy is by helping eligible community members to register to vote for local and

presidential elections. Although their stance in supporting either candidate was non-partisan,

they urged people to get acquainted with elections and vote for the candidate which they

thought would benefit their community.

During the pandemic that started to affect the U.S in March of 2020, Centro organized to

apply for federal and state grants. These grants were later distributed among the community

families that lost their jobs and were not able to receive any government assistance. These

grants were able to provide relief to many business owners and families who were not able to

file taxes due to their immigration status or could not benefit from the stimulus check approved

by Congress.

Conclusion

Centro Tyrone Guzman is a non-profit organization which was only able to provide

limited resources to Latinx families in Minneapolis when it was first founded. As time went on

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Centro was able to expand their education programs with the intention to positively impact the

education and welfare of the Latinx community. Centro, until this day, continues to improve the

way their services are impacting the Latinx community in the city of Minneapolis by remaining

inclusive of other identities like the LGBTQ community. Through social and political

engagement, Centro encourages their participants to become active members of their

community through identity. Guided by the knowledge of our wise elders, Centro strives to use

every part of our collective identity to continue to bring resources that will continue to create a

better future for future Latinx generations.

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 Works Cited

“History.” ​Centro Tyrone Guzman​, centromn.org/history.

Minnesota Department of Health. “Teen Pregnancy and Childbirth. Pregnancy and childbirth

to Females Ages 15 Through 19 years old.” 2017. PDF file.

https://www.health.state.mn.us/docs/communities/titlev/teenpregchildbirth.pdf

Raymundo, Shawn. “Hispanic Teens Continue To Face Highest Rates Of Teen Pregnancies.”

National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice | NLIRJ​, 15 June 2018,

www.latinainstitute.org/es/hispanic-teens-continue-face-highest-rates-teen-

pregnancies

U.S Census. “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Minnesota.” ​Census Bureau QuickFacts​,

2019, www.census.gov/quickfacts/MN.

U.S Census. “U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Minnesota.” ​Census Bureau QuickFacts​,

2019, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MN/RHI725219.