When Monica Palmquist moved to Cortez, Colorado, in 2010, she was shocked to find that the Hispanic population in a town with a Spanish name had almost no presence in the community’s civic life. Born in Mexico, Palmquist had spent most of her life in the United States, in cities where the Hispanic community was visible and active. In Cortez, where she worked as a community organizer, they were rarely ever seen.
“We were called ‘The Invisible Community,’” Palmquist says. “We don’t get ourselves into trouble. We don’t make noise.” Palmquist had taken it upon herself to go door to door to organize the Hispanic community, and the doors literally did not open. The community has a long history of distrusting public officials, and Palmquist’s status as a fellow Mexican American did not outweigh the perception that she was an outsider.
Palmquist wasn’t the only person to notice the disconnect. Cortez is a diverse, working-class city of 8,500 tucked into the San Juan Mountains, but when city officials started a comprehensive planning effort in 2007, turnout was dismal.
[For more on this story by Ellen Shepard, go to http://www.yesmagazine.org/new...an-planning-20171025]
Photo: The Dieciséis de Septiembre celebration in Cortez, CO was the first step in breaking down old barriers between the city and the Hispanic population. Photo by Orton Family Foundation.
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