She didn’t need to go away her mom behind in Venezuela, however Trinidad Kei Herrera, 24, and her husband have been decided to construct a protected, wholesome life for his or her 4 kids — an unlikely situation beneath President Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorial reign. So she, like thousands and thousands of different moms, seemed north to america.
“I actually determined emigrate as a result of we didn’t have a correct job — and my dad received sick, he received most cancers, and we have been determined,” she mentioned in Spanish whereas her kids, ages 2 via 6, performed collectively in a big, vacant lot on the Southeast Aspect of San Antonio.
Although she didn’t anticipate or select to land in Texas — the shelter in California the place the Herreras have been processed purchased them aircraft tickets to San Antonio, as an alternative of New York Metropolis, the place she thought the immigration course of could be simpler — she’s glad she discovered Roca de Refugio (or Rock of Refuge) Church.
“Right here I’m, due to God — as a result of he introduced me right here,” she mentioned. Now she’s contemplating staying in San Antonio if she’s allowed. “I don’t need to transfer anymore. Until, God prepared, I’m going again to my nation.”
The Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, which is housing Roca de Refugio, has seen dwindling attendance, particularly for the reason that pandemic. Officers with each teams and others now wish to use their sources in new methods to assist the group they serve.
The Herrera household, for instance, has a protracted and sophisticated path forward of them for long-term residency or citizenship — a path which may get longer and tougher, if not inconceivable, beneath President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
For now, the Herrera household lives in a “shelter community,” basically numerous motel rooms, church buildings in addition to spare rooms in volunteers’ properties and casitas. The community has been cobbled collectively by Nuevos Vecinos, a nonprofit based by Mennonite Pastor Dianne Garcia, who additionally based Roca de Refugio, and numerous nonprofit companions and congregations.
In San Antonio, “there’s numerous Spanish-speaking church buildings, and there’s numerous church buildings that serve immigrants, however there weren’t church buildings — at the very least that I knew of — the place it was particularly the mission of the church, the identification of the church, was to create a spot of household and belonging for immigrants,” Garcia mentioned of the church and nonprofit she began in April 2023. A toddler of immigrants herself, she has three households dwelling in her own residence.
“Versus a spot of charity for immigrants, [Roca de Refugio is a] place the place they might obtain assist, however extra importantly, might take part in co-creating that house and in giving again to others,” she mentioned.
Roca de Refugio first began working as a nondenominational church out of The Arsenal Church in Southtown and moved into the a lot bigger Good Shepherd Lutheran Church off Goliad Street in late July.
The Lutheran congregation is ageing and fewer persons are curious about going to the church for the reason that pandemic, mentioned Pat Jasso, president of the church’s council. Even earlier than the pandemic, Sunday providers would see “perhaps 50” folks, Jasso mentioned. Now, it’s extra like a dozen.
“We don’t need to let Good Shepard die,” Jasso mentioned, so the council began on the lookout for methods to reactivate the underutilized house. “We simply need to do one thing for the group and need to be a presence, as a result of there’s numerous want on this group.”
Good Shepherd lends its services to Roca de Refugio, now a Mennonite Church, and The Reward Church, a nondenominational, largely Congolese congregation. SASports hosts weekly Zumba lessons, Roca de Refugio runs a donation closet, a personal supplier runs an on-site day care and a basketball workforce rents the gymnasium.
There’s extra exercise within the house now, however that’s simply the very starting of formidable desires for the property, Jasso mentioned.
Jasso and Garcia envision a “neighborhood plaza” that might imply combining housing, worship and different sources, together with language and job coaching, recreation, well being care, workplace house and different entrepreneurial alternatives for anybody searching for to enhance their monetary state of affairs. Which means each residents and migrants.
They name it the Goliad Street Group of Promise.
The ‘promise’
Jasso was related to Garcia via the nonprofit Impression Guild’s Good Acres workshop collection, which is geared toward connecting church buildings with redevelopment alternatives.
Between the sanctuary and mixed-use house, Good Shepherd has 35,000 sq. ft of buildings and a couple of acres of undeveloped land — the vacant lot the place the Herrera kids performed.
“There’s one thing nice right here, however how can we convey it into a brand new chapter?” mentioned Ramiro Gonzales, the previous Prosper West CEO who was employed as a advisor by Impression Guild/Good Acres to assist develop a plan for the property.
Impression Guild and the Goliad Street Group of Promise, a separate nonprofit led by Garcia, has began internet hosting group conferences to determine what requirements and facilities the realm wants, Gonzales mentioned.
“Who’re the opposite useful resource companions that may be right here and serve this speedy group, however then develop it past that?” he mentioned. “A part of what got here from the dialogue just isn’t merely being a group middle that simply has sources and that’s it, however actually how do you construct group, and the way do you actually be an asset for change within the space?”
The church property has the potential to turn into an “financial mobility campus,” Gonzales mentioned.
If the Lutheran church can lease out extra space to companions, that income can subsidize free or low-cost programming, mentioned Jasso, who has beforehand served on quite a few boards and commissions together with San Antonio Water System. She now serves on the Bexar County Hospital District board of managers and the board of Brooks Growth Authority.
She hopes the church’s redevelopment might present comparable financial positive aspects — although possible on a smaller scale — as the previous Brooks Air Pressure Base has for the South Aspect.
Because the specifics of the plan are nonetheless beneath improvement with the group, there may be not a stable timeline or price range for the mission, Jasso mentioned. She expects a fundraising marketing campaign shall be wanted together with native, state or federal grants.
The Impression Guild/Good Acres plans on working with 20-30 church buildings over the subsequent yr and plans on utilizing Goliad Street Group of Promise as a mannequin to develop extra group campuses throughout town, Gonzales mentioned.
Traditionally, initiatives that home migrants or add residential density to a neighborhood have acquired some backlash throughout town.
Jasso mentioned she’s prepared for the not-in-my-backyard crowd or different critics about this method. The church desires to outlive, town is in a housing disaster and the immigrant group is already right here.
“I’m able to say: Effectively, what are you doing about it?” she mentioned.
As soon as a extra stable plan emerges from group conferences, Gonzales mentioned there shall be training and consciousness efforts surrounding the targets of the Goliad Street Group of Promise.
“I believe there’ll should be some very intentional conversations with group about all the opposite issues apart from the housing which might be occurring right here,” he mentioned.
Placing within the work
Garcia, who left the San Antonio Mennonite Church in 2022 as an affiliate pastor, was initially denied a request final yr to plant and pastor a brand new congregation centered on serving migrants.
This summer season, Roca de Refugio turned affiliated with a unique convention within the Mennonite denomination, permitting Garica to once more turn into a licenced Mennonite pastor.
Nonetheless, she shies away from claiming authority.
“I’m facilitating what’s occurring on this group, however I’m not in cost,” she mentioned. “The households maintain the possession of the group.”
Whereas Herrera and her husband wait for his or her work permits to come back via — which might take weeks or months — they help Garcia with duties across the church’s property. Her husband has an advanced medical situation that, for now, prohibits him from acquiring a piece allow.
On Thursday, she was assembling a small, cell rooster coop in preparation for eight chickens that Garcia delivered on Saturday. In the end, the church desires to present their eggs to neighbors who want them.
“I’ve been attempting to place it collectively for two days,” she mentioned, fingers on her hips with a smile
Greater than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the nation over the previous decade, in keeping with the Regional Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants of Venezuela. Roughly 545,000 are within the U.S. as of June.
“It’s potential that sooner or later, God may need deliberate for [me] to return to [my] nation,” Herrera mentioned. She misses her mom, who couldn’t make the journey, however fears what is going to occur to her if she returns to Maduro’s Venezuela.
For now, she’s fortunately constructing a rooster coop within the metropolis she calls house.
“I do consider that bringing immigrant households and supporting them into stability is sweet for everybody, it’s not simply good for them,” Garcia mentioned. “It’s good for everybody when there may be range.”
