Becky Johnson Center

After 12 years at the Becky Johnson Center, the Latino Community Association has found a new home: a historic building constructed in the early 1900s at 636 NW Cedar in Redmond.

The new location, in a two-story house near Dawson’s Station, opened Jan. 23 and allows the organization room for individual offices, two desks for visiting staff, a kitchen, patio, porch and space to host programs for the local Latino community.

According to Brad Porterfield, executive director of the Latino Community Association, the location will give them stability after outgrowing the Becky Johnson Center and scrambling to find enough office space.

“There’s not enough space for us in the Becky Johnson Center anymore,” said Denise Holley, research and communications assistant for the association. “We were finding space wherever we could.”

The Latino Community Association aims to empower Central Oregon Latinos by offering workforce education and training, family services, youth development and other resources.

But, it was difficult for the association to accomplish this mission at the Becky Johnson Center, where they shared the campus with offices for organizations including the Cascade Youth and Family Center, Deschutes County Health Department, NeighborImpact Head Start and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon.

According to Porterfield, they were making do with the shared campus and were able to reserve rooms when needed. But, they couldn’t pretend anymore.

“We needed more space,” Porterfield said.

The main impact of the new location, he said, will be greater efficiency and opportunities. There will now be a room that can be used for English language and computer classes, both of which have seen heightened interest.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in our English classes. (They) have exploded,” Porterfield said. “We’ve tripled the number of English classes we’ve offered since this last fall.”

The association is now hosting English classes in all three Central Oregon counties.

“Computer classes have also expanded,” Porterfield said. “There’s more demand, more interest.”

They’ll still be able to reserve rooms at the Becky Johnson Center when needed and Porterfield said they would do so if any of their classes had 10 or more students.

Additionally, the organization will also expand its tax filing assistance program as it becomes a certified volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) site. The new Redmond office will have one or two staff members helping with filing and intake.

Holley said the association is partnering with AARP’s tax aid program and would like to be able to offer free tax services.

“There’s always been a high demand for affordable tax filing,” Porterfield said.

“We’re expanding it big time. We’ll be able to offer it in three cities — Madras, Redmond and Bend.”

Becoming an actual VITA site, he said, is a new and significant increase in their role.