By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Esperanza.
In Spanish – it means hope.
And that’s exactly why Leo Calderon founded the Esperanza Educational Success Program (ESP) in 2019.
“I put in $1,000 with three others for a mission and a hope,” he told the weekly Covington Rotary Club meeting at the Radisson Hotel. “We provide the Latino/Hispanic community with strategically created educational advancement opportunities that aim to close the existing academic achievement gap and professional under-representation in the regional workforce.”
In short – Esperanza is here to serve Latino immigrants. And Leo Calderon is the perfect role model.
“I was born in Mexico,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune, “And my family moved from Guanajuato when I was about eight or nine years old.”
That move took them to perhaps one of the most depressed areas of Chicago.
“I attended public elementary and high school there,” he said. “And low and behold a recruiter from (then) Thomas More College came to our school.”
It was, as he says, love at first sight – Leo and Thomas More.
Calderon took from his studies the premise of strongly believing in education and working hard to identify areas where educational needs are not being met.
“We develop programs to address these needs,” he said.
Some of those programs are Summer STEM Camp, Adult English Classes, Adult Computer Classes and Tutoring for Kids.
“We advocate for and provide services and programs to the Latino/Hispanic community of Northern Kentucky,” Calderon said.
And he has the results to prove it.
His One-Stop Bilingual Service-Desk manages some 350-plus cases per-month, he says.
“This service offers the community with a bilingual point of contact who works to provide needed assistance and connect people to resources,” he said.
The service acts as a one-stop shop for the Latino community to receive many forms of assistance that include food, diapers and clothing; document interpretation, connection to local legal and housing contacts and connections to university or local school administrators.
“When we started,” Calderon said, “We served some 20-30 families a month. Today that number is close to six hundred.”
He says people will come to our office and ask us to read their medical bills from St. Elizabeth. As for the diaper service, he says they hand-out some 12,500 per-month.
“All these people want,” he says, “is some help. And that is why we’re here.”
And there are plenty of people in the community who rely on Esperanza. Calderon cites some 30 percent of all children in Covington schools are Latino; and some 25 percent of children attending schools in the United States are Latino.
“Even in a school district like Beechwood,” he said, “Some 11 percent of the students are Latino; and in the Commonwealth about seven to eight percent are Latino.”
Esperanza is a two-person bilingual staff, and one must be bilingual to work there, according to Calderon. “And, if a non-Latino should stop in for assistance, we certainly would make a referral.”
All they want is help.
Esperanza.
Esperanza Latino Center of NKY is located at 234 W. Pike Street, Covington, and open Monday through Friday, 1-7 p.m.
See this NKyTribune about Leo Calderon, a NewsMaker 2021.
Kudos to Leo Calderon and his staff at Esperanza! I live in an area where numerous Latinos are employed, and they are hard working and highly qualified in what they do, They and their families have enriched our communities.