Thanks for joining us
for the news. At 10,
a Shadow is cast over the Bright Hispanic
Cultural Center of Idaho building.
Right now it's under new management,
meaning the main nonprofit that's run
events there for the last several
decades is out of the building,
and in charge is the city of Nampa.
Abby Davis looked into what this
change means for the people who use
this building and its resources.
Abby, What? What's happening there?
Well, Brian and Morgan, since 2002,
the culture is the Cultural Center
has rented the building from the
city of Nampa for a dollar a year.
But now they're kicked out,
leaving them scrambling
to find someplace new.
Nampa's mayor says they're just
doing what many people within the
Latino and Hispanic community wants.
It's been a mainstay in the Nampa
community for more than 20 years.
This is the only place for
the community together,
for quinceaneras, weddings,
baptisms, all kinds of events.
But the leadership of this gathering place,
the Hispanic Cultural Center of Idaho.
It was news to me this morning
got quite the surprise.
After coming into work Monday
to vacate the building they gave us
until 5:00 o'clock today they're
going to change the logs and.
They give us until Thursday
to move all the stuff out.
That's because the city of Nampa
announced it was taking over the
building and all operations within it.
Hispanic leaders actually approached
vs mayor in the city about making
a change and trying to get the
Hispanic Cultural Center back to what
it was originally intended to be.
City leadership says the center
hasn't been used much recently.
They outlined all the concerns in
a complaint filed late last year,
saying the nonprofit allowed the building to,
quote, fall into disrepair and
failed to deliver the services
to the Hispanic Community.
Cultural Center President Humberto Fuentes
says the allegations simply aren't true.
They gave me a list about this long,
about things that I needed to correct.
And we proceeded to correct them. He
also says the nonprofit has
met every expectation laid out
in its lease with the city
from day one. We've done the
things that we're doing now,
citizenship classes,
education classes, Valefo,
Chlorico, mariachi,
and a lot of the nonprofit
organizations meet here.
At one point, that included Poder of Idaho.
Executive Director Estefania Mondragon says
they agreed to help the center with more
events in exchange for some office space,
and we ended up being evicted
unlawfully, and so that's when we
decided to do a complaint to the city.
Mondragon also thinks the center
never reached its full potential.
I remember it just having so much
promise and hope for that building
as a young person here in Nampa.
And hoping to see a lot more cultural events,
a lot more art as an adult,
Just seeing that that never came to be,
you know, was really was really saddening.
But Fuentes doesn't see it that way.
They want to justify saying that we're
not doing the right thing for 20 years,
that's what we've been doing,
and we've been successful.
Mayor Cling assured me they'll
keep the building within the
Latino and Hispanic community.
She says she's scheduling meetings
with local leaders to talk about
what the future looks like.
But keep in mind,
a judge turned the building over to the
city in May after the complaint was filed.
The nonprofit had 42 days to respond.
Fuentes says their lawyers made
a mistake and they never did.
But Morgan and Brian he says they
still plan to fight this in court and
accused the city of abusing its power.
Interesting.
I mean, it is
good to hear, though,
that if this isn't.
Under their jurisdiction,
that at least the resources
would still go to the Latino and
Hispanic community in Nampa.
Yes. And there are some
other organizations offering
out of the Cultural Center,
like there's a Wellness
Center in there right now.
And the mayor told me that they
are still making sure that all
of those organizations still
have access to the building.
But if nothing changes, they have until
Thursday to get out of that building.
Yes. The nonprofit itself. Yes.
All right. I mean, we will,
of course, continue to stay on
top of this. Appreciate it.