Padre Fabian Moncada impacts the lives of many from the pulpit of Our Lady Of The Americas, the iconic Catholic church on the east side of Des Moines. For decades, the parish has been considered a spiritual home for Latinos, and Padre Fabian, 49, has led the...
The US military planes left Afghanistan on Aug. 30 after 20 years, marking the end of the longest war in American history. It was heart-wrenching to watch the images on TV of thousands of desperate Afghans trying to escape their country. Fortunately, nearly 37,000...
Alex Vasquez of Sioux Center remembers how excited he was to turn 16 and get his driver’s license. Many of his friends had started to drive and he wanted his chance to get behind the wheel too. When Alex talked to his parents about it, they had to break some news...
Sioux City School Board President Perla Alarcon-Flory has earned the title of being a trailblazer. In her professional life, the 46-year-old is well-known in the judicial and medical fields as a top-notch interpreter through her business, Perla J Alarcon-Flory LLC....
Artes Latinas director Karin Stein lives the Spanish saying of “trae la música en la sangre,” meaning she has music in her blood. She's used that spirit to lead Artes Latinas, an Iowa consortium of Latin ensembles and music theatre productions that cover a large...
When one of the biggest immigration raids in American history took place in Postville, Iowa, attorney Sonia Parras Konrad led a rapid response to try and keep as many families together as she should. She mobilized people to help hundreds of workers and dedicated...
Hispanic Heritage Month started Sept. 15 and it is a time to celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of Latinos/Hispanics/Latinx to the United States. It was California Congressman George E. Brown who introduced the first commemorative week in 1968....
Guest post by Vanessa Marcano-Kelly, who served as one of the Spanish-language interpreters for Gov. Kim Reynolds last year during her then-daily coronavirus press conferences. Since my informal community organizer/interpreter days, I was aware that my job as an...
Ahmed Agyeman is living his American Dream and works to help others achieve theirs. In June, the Ghana native was chosen to lead the Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Urban Campus where he continues to do what...
Vanessa Marcano-Kelly of Des Moines played a key role during the pandemic as one of the Spanish interpreters for Gov. Kim Reynolds’ daily news conferences, making sure Spanish-speaking Iowans stayed informed on the public health situation. Fluent in English,...
