Iowa Valley holds resource fair at downtown building
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Many people may not know that Iowa Valley Business and Community Solutions operates an Education and Training Center downtown at 206 E. Church St., and on top of that, they may not be aware of the wide range of resources available to residents both new and established through a plethora of local organizations.
Several of those groups set up booths at a Community Resource Fair held at the downtown building on Wednesday morning, ranging from the Marshalltown Police Department to Immigrant Allies of Marshalltown to the House of Compassion to RIVA to even the Lions Club, with members sharing some of their trademark popcorn.
Marlu Abarca of the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP), which had a booth at the event, said it was an opportunity to help those who will soon be eligible for the program to learn more about their benefits, and in Iowa specifically, she noted a shortage of bilingual employees who can interact with the Spanish speaking community, which is prevalent in places like Marshalltown.
Jazmin Diaz of RIVA, an organization dedicated to assisting refugees and immigrants, said the language barrier and fear of disclosing immigration status are still the biggest factors that can keep them from being connected with the resources they need to succeed.
Joa LaVille and Maria Gonzalez of Immigrant Allies were on hand and focused their booth on English language learning resources, and because LaVille's full-time job is at the Marshalltown Public Library, she also had a chance to showcase some of its offerings.
"I think there were a lot of questions with regard to resources in the community. A lot of people didn't really know about Immigrant Allies, so it was good to be able to connect them with those kinds of resources," Gonzalez said. "It was really good to meet some of the newer immigrants in Marshalltown to build those connections."
Gonzalez, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, noticed a new wave of French-speaking immigrants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as several families from Ukraine who have been displaced as a result of the ongoing war with Russia.
"It's definitely always great to get to meet some of the newer faces within our community and build that relationship," Gonzalez said. "For them to realize that the community is welcoming and looking for different ways to help them in their future in Marshalltown is always fantastic. That's a great feeling to have, especially when you're so new to a location or a place."
Patty Mendoza, who serves as the director of adult literacy at the Education and Training Center, was one of the organizers of the fair, and she hopes it will become a yearly staple at the downtown facility, which focuses on providing English as a Second Language (ESL), high school equivalency and citizenship classes.
"Most people don't know we exist down here, and then we have construction that doesn't really help either. But being downtown is just a little easier for our students to get here," she said. "A lot of our students don't know where they can go for some resources, and that was the main thing. It initially started with 'Our students need this,' but we know it's a community initiative as well."
Mendoza added that immigrant populations, in particular, are often hesitant to reach out with questions -- as she put it, it's "scary" for them just to come in the door. Nonetheless, she estimated that about 65 people attended in all, and she aims to build on that success going forward.
"We're hoping that this our first one and it's not the last one, and more people are gonna know that we are here," Mendoza said. "And maybe they'll reach out and be like 'Hey, we want to come to your classes and talk about whatever it is.'"
The full list of participating entities included BCS, MCC, the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA, Iowa Legal Aid, Iowa State Extension & Outreach, WIOA Title I, Voc Rehab, SHIIP/SMP, The Marshalltown Public Library, Immigrant Allies, MICA Head Start, MICA Early Head Start, RIVA
MEMBERS1st, Primary Healthcare, CAPS, The Marshalltown Police Department, The House of Compassion, The Salvation Army and the Marshalltown Evening Lions.
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.