The flags of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and the United States hang in the window of the Latino Hispanic American Community Center in Harrisburg. (Tom Downing - WITF)
Harrisburg Latino Hispanic American Community Center opens doors of new building
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Katie Knol
The flags of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and the United States hang in the window of the Latino Hispanic American Community Center in Harrisburg. (Tom Downing - WITF)
The Latino Hispanic American Community Center’s new building in Harrisburg is meant to provide more space to offer basic needs services and programs like English classes and workforce training.
On Wednesday, the center held a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the community that made the project possible.
“I’m extremely thankful to all of our sponsors,” LHACC CEO Gloria Merrick said. “Everyone has brought us to this point where now, we have our own building. We have a donor that gave us the money for the building and she is going to be honored today and our county commissioners, the mayor — everyone that has been supporting us will be there — and I’m so thankful to all of them.”
The previous community center was only two rooms. One room was for administration and one was for programs.
But the new center is three floors just around the corner from the old building.
Merrick said they’re hoping to offer more opportunities to improve skill sets, wages and quality of life.
“We’re really excited that we’re beyond basic human needs, services to now empowerment, creating a place where people can come and be empowered and learn and self-develop and improve their quality of life because now they can have a better job and they can increase their wages,” she said. “We’re really excited about helping to stop the poverty level by providing services that are going to empower the community to lift themselves up and to become more sustainable.”
The almost-100-year-old building is shaped like a keystone and is undergoing renovations. LHACC is painting, adding new carpeting and looking to expand some of the classrooms to increase capacity. They hope to serve thousands within the building’s first year.
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