North Kent News

The Latino Community Coalition serves as a unifying force for the equitable advancement of Latinos in West Michigan. LCC began in 2006 as a place for Latino professionals and service providers to connect, collaborate, and share resources and opportunities benefiting their clients. Though it remains a volunteer-run organization, over time LCC expanded its mission to take a more proactive approach to shaping the future of Latinx communities in West Michigan, including hosting an annual speaker series focusing on Latino placemaking, holding regular candidate forums for a variety of local offices, and serving on advisory committees related to education, civic engagement, and environmental justice, among other efforts. During the pandemic, LCC worked with the Kent County Health Department to advocate for information sharing and resources for Spanish-speaking and other Latinx communities, and partnered with LatinxGR and several other organizations to implement La Lucha Fund, which provided direct cash assistance to families in Kent County who were undocumented or had mixed immigration status that made them ineligible for other COVID relief money. Most recently, LCC has been working on a project called Nuestra Herencia, which celebrates the lives and legacies of Latinas in Grand Rapids by collecting and sharing their stories, and in the longer term, will activate public space with an art piece in their honor. Learn more about this project at latinocommunitycoalition.org/herencia, or visit the Grand Rapids Public Museum for their A Celebration of Souls exhibit where Nuestra Herencia Latinas will be featured in their own altar through November 27. #HispanicHeritageMonth