History / What is The Hola Center?

The HOLA Center grew out of cooperative outreach efforts made between the Catholic Church parish of Our Lady of the Americas, the Des Moines Police Department, the Polk County Bar Association, Catholic Charities, and a number of other providers. Our Lady of the Americas parish boasts a membership of 1,000 households, 80% of whom are of Hispanic ancestry. This high concentration of Hispanic families has made the parish a natural venue through which service provider can access the Hispanic population which has been growing so rapidly in the Des Moines area during the last 10 years.

Starting in the Fall of 2004, the parish began to host two important outreach activities. First was the once per month legal clinic held by the Polk County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers. This clinic services an average of 25 cases or consultations per month. The success of this clinic provides clear evidence of the acute needs of a growing population that is new to the U.S., and new to Des Moines.

Also in the Fall of 2004, the Des Moines Police HONRA unit established a satellite office in the former school building on the church parish property near east 18th Street and Grand Avenue. This office has afternoon hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On average, this satellite operation receives 7 to 10 visits or phone calls per day of operation. The Des Moines Police Department is extremely committed to a regular presence in the neighborhoods of our community. This experiment has been extremely successful, and has served to establish a bond of trust between the police and the community at large.

The HONRA unit (Hispanic Outreach Neighborhood Resource Advocate), led by Joe Gonzales, is very well known within the Hispanic community. There are countless examples of HONRA involvement with difficult or potentially dangerous situations where a positive end result was achieved. The HONRA unit solves and prevents problems every day, and is truly viewed as an advocate within the Hispanic community.

Finally, while evaluating the integration of a counseling component into the parish activity in January of 2005, the idea of a social service center was born. For the remainder of 2005, leaders from around the community have been working to form a coalition of organizations that can provide help in the areas of highest need within the Hispanic and low income population segments. The result of this coalition is the HOLA Center. We are very happy to establish a facility and an organization structure that can make reaching those in need a more efficient and effective process. The byproduct of this concept will be a better coordination between providers and an easier network for people understand.

The HOLA Center will continue to evolve as time passes. We will measure our effectiveness and results, making changes in response to changes in the population, and changes with the provider community. We are committed to maintaining a substantial positive impact to the community.