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The nonprofit now provides much needed services to 6000 Latinos a year, up from 400 just four years ago.<\/strong><\/p>\n Monica Ruiz, a half-Guatemalan American citizen fluent in Spanish, was born and raised in Cleveland. But when Pittsburghers tell her to \u201cgo back where you came from\u201d \u2013- an insult she hears weekly \u2014they\u2019re not talking about her returning to Cleveland.<\/p>\n Ruiz has a theory about why so many Pittsburghers are antagonistic towards her and the population that her organization, Casa San Jose, supports: They\u2019re afraid.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the steel industry collapsed 50 years ago in Pittsburgh, the people who stayed here developed a scarcity mindset,\u201d says Ruiz, executive director of Casa San Jose, a non-profit in Pittsburgh\u2019s Beechview neighborhood that helps Latino newcomers acclimate to life in Western Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted life to stay the way it was,\u201d Ruiz explains, \u201cand they\u2019re still holding onto that identity.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic, given that Pittsburgh\u2019s steel dynasty was built by a melting pot of immigrants. Today, newcomers from around the world are stirring that proverbial melting pot, creating anxiety among born-and-raised Pittsburghers that the city\u2019s history will become forever changed and forgotten.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we come together, we grow together,\u201d says Ruiz. \u201cWe can\u2019t continue to operate in the mindset of scarcity. We have to change hearts and minds.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruiz believes that another reason that some Pittsburghers fear an influx of Latinos is a misunderstanding about why they\u2019re coming.<\/p>\n \u201cThey come here for one thing and one thing only,\u201d Ruiz explains, \u201ca hunger to work and have a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not uncommon for adult clients of Casa San Jose to work two or three physically demanding jobs, and for kids to work two. Often, teenagers are here having crossed the border on their own. One young man, now in the Carpenter\u2019s union, was just a boy when he was trafficked and forced into labor in Pittsburgh. Another lived in a house with more than a dozen other immigrants, sleeping on a cot in a moldy basement between shifts in the restaurant and construction job. He was making about $500 a week\u2014as much as the parents he left behind in Mexico earned in a year.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re grateful for the opportunity to be here, so they take the abuse,\u201d says Ruiz.<\/p>\n Thanks to Casa San Jose, conditions for Pittsburgh\u2019s Latino newcomers are dramatically improving.<\/p>\n The organization has evolved and grown since its incorporation by The Sisters of St. Joseph in 2014. When Sister Janice Vanderneck began supporting Latino immigrants two decades ago, immigration was seasonal and the needs of the mostly men who came to Pittsburgh for work were simpler than needs of the families who come here now to put down roots.<\/p>\n Sister Janice bridged the language barrier for workers who needed temporary housing and medical care. Then the situation at the Mexican-American border changed. Seasonal workers who could no longer easily travel between Pittsburgh and home ultimately brought their families and settled here, and Sister Janice\u2019s sought-after generosity and resourcefulness led to the establishment of Casa San Jose (translated as the House of St. Joseph).<\/p>\n Four years ago, Casa San Jose serviced 400 people. Today, it\u2019s nearly 6000, says Ruiz. The small but mighty nonprofit is struggling to keep up with the exploding demand with an ever-growing staff of 27 and 100 or so volunteers. In addition to providing a wide range of emergency, housing, healthcare and social services for Latino newcomers, Casa San Jose offers after-school, Saturday and summer programs for children and teenagers.<\/p>\n While the language barrier is still the biggest challenge for Latino newcomers, adapting to a completely different culture and climate is also confounding. Monique Herrera, the bi-lingual lead case manager for housing and child protective services at Casa San Jose, ticks off a list of everyday items with which newcomers from impoverished areas in countries such as Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala are unfamiliar.<\/p>\n Herrera is passionate about helping newcomers set up a life in Pittsburgh because she was once a newcomer herself. \u201cI feel like it\u2019s my mission in life to help those in need who don\u2019t know how to navigate in America.\u201d<\/p>\n Now in her 30s with children and a green card, Herrera was three when her parents brought her to Pittsburgh. There was no Casa San Jose then, no emergency house where they could stay for as long two weeks when the shelters were full, no one like Herrera to welcome them in their language and show them the ropes, no English Language Learning classes like there are today.<\/p>\n \u201cAt Casa San Jose, we\u2019re teaching them to move on in life, to not put boundaries on themselves,\u201d says Herrera.<\/p>\n Fernanda Ruiz, who was four in 2001 when she and her parents immigrated to Pittsburgh on a Visitor\u2019s visa, helped to develop the organization\u2019s youth curricula. She joined Casa San Jose as a full-time intern during her junior year of college with a vision to create a culture for Latino kids different from what she experienced at their age.<\/p>\n When Fernanda, now a recruiter for Teach for America, was growing up in Pittsburgh\u2019s South Side neighborhood, there were no programs specific to her needs or that didn\u2019t require citizenship. Today, Casa San Jose\u2019s youth programs are safe spaces where kids can have fun, talk about their difficulties and be themselves. They can also speak their native language without feeling the embarrassment that Fernanda often felt as the only Hispanic in her school, she says. Back then, Fernanda never heard Spanish spoken by anyone outside of her home.<\/p>\n The youth programming also exposes the kids to all that Pittsburgh has to offer.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents need to know that this is their city, but many parents fear allowing their kids to go out because of their immigration status,\u201d says Fernanda. \u201cConcerts, parks, museums\u2014these are things you have access to. For many kids the first time they visit Point State Park or an art museum is through Casa San Jose. To experience this through the eyes of these students is so meaningful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n As a Casa San Jose volunteer, Fernanda understands that she is a role model. \u201cStudents can see in me what they can become.\u201d<\/p>\n Monica Ruiz sees voluntarism as a way to bring cultures together and eventually eradicate the racism that causes people to want her and others to \u201cgo back where you came from.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have tons of volunteer opportunities at Casa San Jose, whether you have an hour a year or an hour a week,\u201d says Ruiz. \u201cDon\u2019t just listen to what you hear on the news. Get involved and make your own decision about the value that newcomers bring to our city.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This story is part of “The New Americans” series, a project of Pittsburgh Tomorrow which seeks to reverse population loss through revitalization. Read more stories <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n Beth Marcello, a writer, consultant and advocate for women, is based in the South Side Slopes. (bethwagnermarcello@gmail.com)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Photos by Tracy Certo. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The nonprofit now provides much needed services to 6000 Latinos a year, up from 400 just four years ago. Monica Ruiz, a half-Guatemalan American citizen fluent in Spanish, was born and raised in Cleveland. But when Pittsburghers tell her to … Continue reading \n