A group of islanders working to support Vashon’s Latino population is gaining traction, and their latest effort — to ensure that more Spanish-speaking toddlers get a chance to attend preschool on Vashon — will bring a mouth-watering spread of Latin cuisine to this Friday’s Gallery Cruise.
The feast, which will include such treats as handmade taquitos dorados, tostaditos and pastel y galletas, is being offered free of charge in the hallway of The Wallflower Building, starting at 5:30 p.m. until the food runs out, on Friday.
But Alejandra Tress, a member of the informal group called Comunidad Latina de Vashon, said that she hopes islanders will not only come for the free food, but also donate generously to the group’s scholarship fund for preschool-age, Spanish-speaking children.
“Our community has a tendency to be invisible,” she said. “I have witnessed kids who go into kindergarten who don’t speak any English.”
Preschool, Tress believes, benefits all children in a number of ways, but the need is especially great for Latino children who grow up in households where only Spanish is spoken. She herself immigrated to the United States from Argentina as a child, and entered first grade with no English — an experience she said informs her eagerness to help other Spanish-speaking kids get a head start in their education.
Sally Adam, who helps coordinate Comunidad Latina’s meetings through her work as the family advocate for Vashon’s school district, agreed with Tress about the importance of the issue.
“Preschool has made a critical difference for (Spanish-speaking) students coming in to Vashon schools,” Adam said. “It’s huge. We see it trickling down through all the years of school — there is more self-confidence and ability in school because of that preschool experience.”
Raising funds for preschool education is only one of the aims of Comunidad Latina, a group that officially formed about a year ago and now holds meetings, in Spanish, on a twice monthly basis. The group now includes about 30 families, said Tress.
One of the organization’s first official moves was to organize a parade of its members during the 2012 Strawberry Festival, and since that time, group members have also put together presentations about Latino holidays, including El Dia de los Muertos, for local schools.
According to Adam, the mission of Comunidad Latina is broad.
“We want to be a really positive presence in our whole community and reach out as neighbors,” she said. “We’re here, and we want to contribute something positive.”
The Latino population on Vashon has grown significantly in recent years.
According to census records, the number of Latino islanders grew about 67 percent from 2000-2010, from 259 to 434.
Tress said she believes the number has continued to climb in recent years.
“I know that the Latino community here is very diverse in terms of their backgrounds and origin, and also in terms of their immigration journey,” she said. “There are also many second generation Latinos here.”
Donna Donnelly, assistant to the superintendent of the school district, confirmed that participation in English Language Learners (ELL) classes offered by the district has also spiked in recent years, from about 20 students in 2007 to 36 students currently. From 2000 to now, the number of students who identify as Hispanic have more than doubled, from 54 to 133.
In a twist, as Comunidad raises funds for Latino children to attend English-language preschool, more than three dozen families have opted to send their non-Latino children to a new Spanish language immersion kindergarten program at Chautauqua Elementary school.
Victoria Clayton, a native Spanish speaker who teaches both morning and afternoon classes of the immersion class, said that last year there was a waiting list for the new program. Only 6 of the 40 students in her class are native Spanish-speakers, she said.
But the English-speaking students in the program are quickly learning to speak Spanish.
“At this age, it is very easy for them,” she said.
