A group photo of children who went to Centro Hispano de East Tennessee’s summer camp in 2024.
In the last few years, the Hispanic population has nearly doubled in Knoxville, Tennessee, from 8,206 to 15,160, and now represents 8% of the city’s residents.
This growth of the Latino community is significant and only projects to continue to grow in the future.
However, this increase in Latino residents brings significant socio-economic challenges. One prominent issue for the Latino population is their educational experience, as they face several disadvantages.
Last year, Latinos accounted for about 12% of the population in Knox County Schools, and many of these schools lack bilingual materials to assist these students and Spanish-speaking staff who can effectively engage with them.
Claudia Caballero is the president of Centro Hispano de East Tennessee and further spoke on the educational gap for Hispanic students.
“The educational outcomes of these students reflect this disparity, as Hispanic graduation and postsecondary enrollment rates lag behind,” Caballero said. “77.9% of Hispanic students graduating compared to the overall graduation rate of 89.7% in the 2021-22 academic year.”
According to Caballero, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission reported that the postsecondary enrollment rate for Tennessee students immediately after high school was 52.8% in 2021, while only 35% of Hispanic students pursued further education.
To help equip the Latino population, Centro Hispano de East Tennessee is an organization that unites, honors and empowers the Latino community. It envisions an East Tennessee where this population can thrive in educational, economic and cultural domains.
The organization’s objective is to enhance empowerment and civic engagement through educational programs, workforce development, youth and family activities, and initiatives that support community growth.
This institution became a reality through its many founders. After almost a decade of initiating this idea, members first began volunteering from garages and church basements.
The notion that Latinos in East Tennessee sought a place to connect ultimately reached a wider audience.
“Nearly 20 years later, Centro is the leading Latino-serving organization in the region, supporting thousands of clients with tens of thousands of instructional hours with the help of more than 200 volunteers,” Caballero said.
Cristina Cáceres grew up in Lima, Peru, and is the vice president of community impact in Centro Hispano de East Tennessee as she works to improve physical and mental well-being of Latino families.
“My team works on health education and access, community resource navigation, COVID relief, food security, mental health, vaccine outreach, maternal health and civic education,” Cáceres said.
Cáceres’s inspiration for working in this organization came from her mother, who was always ready to help those in need. She aims to follow in her mother’s footsteps.
“Helping to heal others has been a path to healing myself, and it gives me the strength to be unapologetic as a woman, as a recent immigrant from Perú, and as a Latina leader in the community,” Cáceres said.
Centro Hispano de East Tennessee also creates a safe space for the Latino community where members can feel a sense of belonging.
“I love that I don’t have to explain parts of my identity,” Cáceres said. “I show up with my full self and I learned from others who are bringing their full selves to the work as well.”
Areas for supporting the Latino community are not limited to just this organization.
There are several ways to get involved, such as volunteering. This is also a great opportunity to work with kids and practice or teach Spanish.
“For me, it’s been an invitation to grow and evolve alongside an organization of people and ideas that are close to my heart,” Caballero said.