Following the panel discussion that was recently held in Jefferson with representatives from Storm Lake talking about the diversity shift their community saw, more progress is being made with Neuva Vida en Greene County.

Consultant Carlos Arguello with Latino IQ says one of the main missions for this initiative is to attract the Latino population to work in Greene County to fulfill the over 200 jobs that are available. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio getting employers ready for an influx of Latino employees is one area he is focusing on.

“Over the last few months, I’ve been working with several major employers in the area to take a look at what their processes, their systems, and their culture looks like today to understand if they are ready to welcome folks of different cultural backgrounds. What we want to do is make sure that we take a look at our own house, making sure that it’s in order before we invite new guests.”     

Steering Committee Chair Chuck Offenburger says transportation will be key to start to bring the Latino population into Greene County. This project would be in partnership with Region XII Council of Governments with bus routes coming from Perry to Jefferson and eventually from Denison to Jefferson, stopping along the way to the major employers. Secondarily, Offenburger says housing is another issue to try and attract the Latino community to live in Greene County.

“We’re doing some really innovative stuff, including beginning to talk about printing 3D houses. We’ll be doing some of that here but then working with contractors, both local and from outside (of the county) who are going to come in here and take the lead on this. Honestly, we need to build about 500 homes here in the next three years. If we build 500 homes here in the next three years, you know what happens? It’s the biggest industry in Greene County.”  

Additionally, there are four sub-committees that continue to meet on a regular basis, including culture history and integration, food, arts, music and culture; interfaith activities and soccer events and facilities and about 50 people are participating.