About 50 people attended the final public meeting in Jefferson about a project to attract the Latino population to Greene County.

Greene County Development Corporation is working with Latino IQ on the “Nueva Vida in Greene County,” or “New Life in Greene County” where they want to bring in Latinos to help fulfill the over 200 available jobs in the county, but then eventually get them to live and play in the community. Latino IQ Vice President of Client Services Carlos Arguello told the crowd that the Latino population is the fastest growing demographic in Iowa and among the youngest, with the average age of the Latinos being 23 years old.

“The other thing that’s really cool about this demographic is that they’re like us, meaning that we have some of the same values. Which values? Well number one, family for us is the most important thing bar none. Number two, faith, we’re very close to our faith. And number three, community. We’re very close to our community. Wherever we are, we participate, we grow roots, and we stay put.”  

While Arguello acknowledged that there is a housing shortage in the county, they will initially plan to develop a transportation system to bring in those employees, plus Latino IQ will provide assistance for the applicants to navigate to whatever job they are interested in to be interviewed by that employer. 

Steering Committee Chair Chuck Offenburger talked about executing this kind of project and Wild Rose General Manager Travis Dvorak spoke from a major employer’s need for additional employees. 

GCDC President Sid Jones estimated about 200 people total attended the seven town hall meetings and described the feedback and atmosphere other audiences had from the six other meetings.

“It’s 99-percent positive. If they ask questions, the vast majority of them are constructive, need education, want to learn more, not you’re doing the wrong thing here, that’s not what we heard. So we were very encouraged in every spot that we went to.”    

For those who want to learn more about the Greene County Diversity Project, click the link to a video recording one the first town hall meeting in Jefferson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXdJD8_lOg&list=PL-ECuhg5vJ7rjrvmvCx6pfW-vUgLY7xla