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As economic development manager at El Centro Hispano, the longest-serving Latino organization in North Carolina, Arisha Guerra Fonseca can regularly measure the success of the programs she supports through the individual stories of its participants.

There’s Daniel, originally from Venezuela, who took Spanish language electrical wiring courses offered through an El Centro partnership. He now owns his own electrical wiring company, hiring others from the same program.

And there’s Claudia, originally from Guatemala, who had never received a higher education. So, she was especially proud to participate in an El Centro-sponsored graduation ceremony after earning a professional certification.

“She was just happy to know I’m wearing a cap and gown. I have something that says I am a professional,” said Guerra Fonseca, who was born and raised in Cary, NC, and is of Peruvian and Guatemalan descent. “Those things make me feel good … They’re actually growing.”

Launched in 1992, El Centro’s mission is to strengthen North Carolina’s Hispanic and Latino communities. With a background in disaster relief, Guerra Fonseca joined the nonprofit’s community health division during the pandemic.

“Our main objective is to continue to work in expanding the capacity of the Hispanic and Latino community,” she said. “To have them really advance forward in their entrepreneurial ideas and grow generational wealth.”

Arisha Guerra Fonseca

Once the immediate health needs subsided, she moved over to its economic development division, helping individuals recover financially from the pandemic’s aftermath. Her daily work now focuses on three prongs — workforce development, small business development and financial literacy.

That work includes the Casa of Employment and Leadership. The program educates job seekers about labor laws, provides them with Spanish-language vocational trainings through partnerships with community colleges in Durham and Wake counties, and connects them with employers. Its Toolbank provides landscaping and construction tools, which people can rent to use in their work or business.

El Centro’s financial clinics are designed to shore up participants’ knowledge of personal and business finances. And its Triangle Business Network provides connections for business owners and entrepreneurs where they can build on their business skills and support each other. “We love providing networking events to help them grow their entrepreneurial ideas and really network with individuals,” she said.

In 2023, Guerra Fonseca had the opportunity to build up her own network through the NC Rural Center’s Rural Economic Development Institute. Still at the coordinator-level at the time and surrounded by classmates with titles like executive director, she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for the program at the beginning.

But lessons from REDI helped prepare her for her promotion to manager, which came not long after she graduated from it, she said. And the connections she made with her fellow REDI classmates have helped her extend her own reach and influence.

When a Beaufort County classmate was on the hunt for a Spanish professor to teach at the local community college, Guerra Fonseca connected them with one. As El Centro seeks to better tap into the Oxford area, she reached out to a REDI classmate from the area for advice. And when Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, Guerra Fonseca contacted REDI classmates from the area to find out how El Centro could help.

“In my time in REDI, I got different perspectives that I wouldn’t have experienced outside of that,” she said. “I learned how to grow myself through it, and I continue to grow myself too to be able to reach my community better.”