Latino Community Advisor Encourages Inclusion

NEBRASKA CITY - Over the past 20 years Latino communities in small towns like Nebraska City might have seemed invisible, but community organizer Yolanda Peck says that is changing.

Peck: “Right now I am working in having the people fit more into the community. I have a group of women mostly that this summer, if the weather gets better, we are going to be cleaning the area around their trailers and maybe fix up their trailers a little bit. I have them growing gardens, they have done that before, and the whole idea has been to be inclusive in the community.”

“If they do these things, I’m hoping that it is noticed by the American community."

Yolanda’s ties to the Department of Labor have helped her contribute to the community of which she, as a Panamanian, also takes part in.

Peck: “When I first entered this area I worked for the Department of Labor and that was a lucky position for me and for the community. I was able to arrange training and schooling for many of those immigrants that now have advance, so it’s been a good move.”

“A lot of those became teachers and I have a biologist and I have a couple of nurses, and they made good career choices and the state of Nebraska help pay for that."