The Casa Guanajuato Mexican Cultural Center in Moline, Illinois now maintains a paid staff to help the Hispanic community with information regarding education, health, immigration, and the translation of document from English into Spanish.

There are currently three full-time employees, one of which who is responsible for developing the organization's outreach and interpretation services. The center is able to maintain a staff due to a grant from the state of Illinois of over $46,000.

According to Connie Barrett, volunteer for Casa Guanajuato, "I think that we will be able to improve our services to the community now that we will have employees. Every month, we help between 30 to 40 people who have a need for interpretation for child support, court, doctor's appointments and domestic violence advocacy."

Each employee is required to complete a training sessi0on and will receive ongoing training as it is offered.

03 February 2009