NEA Outstanding Businesses: El Centro Hispano wins Nonprofit Award

Talk Business & Politics, in partnership with Arvest Bank, recently honored the top businesses in 2024 throughout Northeast Arkansas. Nominees were gathered from around the region and a select panel of judges chose four finalists in each of these categories: large, small, startup and nonprofit. This week, we will feature the finalists and winners by category in a four-part series.

In the nonprofit category, El Centro Hispano was the winner as chosen by the judges. The nonprofit was started in Jonesboro in 1997. It offers services and programs to help improve the lives of immigrants in NEA and across the state.

Other nominees in the category include CASA of the Second Judicial District, the Kharis Group, and KLEK 102.5.

El Centro Hispano (Jonesboro)
Executive director: Gina Gomez
Year founded: 1997
Line of work: Community services
Website: centrohispanoarkansas.com

Catholic sister Elaine Willett of Blessed Sacrament noticed an emerging issue in mid-1990s. Jonesboro’s Hispanic population was on the rise and there was little in the way of support programs or organizations for these newcomers who largely came from countries with much different cultures.

In 1997, she formed El Centro Hispano. The organization was turned into a nonprofit, non-religious organization in 2003, the same year Gina Gomez was hired as executive director.

“El Centro Hispano offers services and programs that seek to improve the overall quality of life for community members. Our services and programs encompass six key areas: educational, social, cultural, health, legal, and civic engagement. We provide bilingual professional development and education including Emprendiendo (Entrepreneurship in English) that educates aspiring and current business owners. We have built a strong network of Hispanic professionals and leaders who serve through our Northeast Arkansas Hispanic Professionals Network (NEAHPN) that raises money for scholarships yearly,” the nonprofit reported.

The organization started in a small white house. In 2017, a new facility was built. That facility is at capacity and El Centro is embarking on a capital campaign to expand the facility to support increased program participation and community involvement.

El Centro doesn’t just provide services in Northeast Arkansas. It has expanded to cover other parts of the state.

“The number of services that we provide each year is on a consistent upward trajectory and we now provide approximately 10,000 services across Northeast, Central, Northwest, and Southern Arkansas, 95% of which go to Hispanics (4% Caucasian, 1% African American). We have also over doubled our staff since 2020 and have increased capacity to provide new and innovative programs to serve the largest growing minority in Arkansas,” Gomez said.

Since the start of COVID-19, El Centro Hispano secured more than $1.1 million in funding from multiple national organizations such as Community Catalyst (CDC), the National Alliance for Hispanic Health (HRSA, NCOA), and UAMS to support the health of the community. In the past two years alone, its budget and assets have tripled through fundraising and stakeholder commitment.

“Our organization is a nonprofit leader in the state of Arkansas on many initiatives. This is because we uniquely approach public service through a holistic lens seeking to improve multiple areas of our clients’ lives through a multidimensional service repertoire. Our programs and resources empower clients to help themselves. We are successful in reaching immigrant populations and being a voice for the Spanish speaking community members in our rural area because we assist individuals in cultural transitions through English and citizenship classes, legal services, and leadership workshops. Our programs have been sought after by many public agencies in Central, Southern, and Northwest Arkansas and we continue increasing our reach every year,” Gomez said.

Other finalists in the nonprofit category, which you can read more about here, include:

CASA of the Second Judicial District (Jonesboro)
Executive director: Angie Tate
Year founded: 1995
Line of work: Child advocacy
Website: neacasa.org

Kharis Group (Jonesboro)
Founder: Shunqetta N. Cunningham
Year founded: 2014
Line of work: Nonprofit services
Website: consultkharis.com

KLEK 102.5 (Jonesboro)
Co-founder: LaGanzie Kale
Year founded: 2015
Line of work: Radio station
Website: klekfm.org