Spokane-based Nuestras Raíces Centro Comunitario, also known as Our Roots Community Center, has raised $70,000 after launching its capital campaign at its recent Tacos and Tequila Festival event for a permanent space in the community.

About two-thirds of that will go toward the new space with the rest going to expenses from other programs within the organization.

The facility would primarily be a behavioral health center for the Hispanic/Latino community and include social services and wellness programs to advance health equity.

“That is one of the biggest needs that we saw here in Spokane, is the lack of social services and mental health for the Hispanic community,” said Fernanda Mazcot, executive director of the center.

Nuestras Raíces is part of the Hispanic Business Professional Association, an organization that was created 25 years ago to create more opportunities for Hispanic/Latino business professionals in the Inland Northwest. Spokane’s Hispanic population share has increased from 5% to 7% over the last couple of years.

Mazcot said she started the Esperanza Program, a mental health and social service program, four years ago to help and serve the Hispanic community after seeing the lack of BIPOC mental health providers in the area.

“My background is in social work. I’ve worked in social services since I was in high school – and I’m very passionate about mental health, and there’s just not enough resources for the Hispanic/Latino population around social services and mental health,” she said.

“So within the Esperanza program, we do direct services, and we help folks with their DSHS (Department of Social and Health Services) applications. We’re community partners with DSHS, but we also offer clinical and non clinical therapy. So for us, it’s very important that we have folks that can represent the community that we’re serving, that represent our culture.”

Nuestras Raíces currently has five social workers and two licensed mental health providers part of the Esperanza Program, including five social work students each year doing their practicum with the center in behavioral health. It provides all services at no cost.

Photo by Monica Carrillo-Casas

During the last month, Nuestras Raíces has also leased an office in Othello, a rural community with a 77% Hispanic population, to provide more convenient business and Telehealth mental health appointments. Many from Othello and surrounding towns such as Mattawa and Royal City, currently drive to Spokane for mental health appointments. The Othello office will have a bilingual staff of four.

Maria Martinez, site manager for the Othello office, said she grew up working in the fields picking onions with her mom and firsthand saw the struggles many farmworkers deal with that can worsen mental health issues.

“Being in a rural area, it’s hard, because you either have to go to Grant County to Moses Lake to get assistance with electricity and things like that. And some families don’t have that transportation or the resources to get there,” Martinez said.

“You know, someone that understands your language and your culture is so important. We have fantastic partnerships with other health centers that offer behavioral Health, but the more we thought about it, you know, we need a specific place where it’s really going to center the needs of our people,” Mazcot said.

Depression and anxiety among the Hispanic community in Washington State increased during COVID, according to a study by the University of Washington’s Latino Center for Health.

Out of the survey, scores for “depression likely” and “anxiety likely” were higher among people between 18-30 and participants older than 65, women, those with higher education and those with lower incomes.

Through its 2022 inaugural infographic for Hispanic statistics in Washington, the center also states that 38% of adults report poor mental health status. The second leading cause of death for people between 1-18 is suicide.