Growing Latino community finds a new ‘hogar' in Sussex County

NEWTON - They can be seen at the nearby train stations, along the bus routes in Sparta and in the small apartments above the storefronts on Spring Street in Newton; strangers in a foreign land, trying to make do in a new home called Sussex County. For some, fear and isolation show more clearly in their faces than the roots of Latino heritage that bond them together. But those marginalized by societal forces, including language and culture, are finding refuge at a new outreach center, the first for Sussex County’s growing Latino population. Since opening in April, “El Refugio” - or The Refuge - has been connecting Latino residents with various social services and helping to integrate an “under-served” population into the community. The new center, located at 19 Church St. in Newton, is a partnership between the nonprofit Center for Prevention and Counseling and Christ Episcopal Church through a $40,000 grant from the New Jersey Department of State’s Office of Faith Based Initiatives. “I see it as a coming out of our understanding of faith,” said Rev. Robert Griner, rector at the Christ Episcopal Church who spearheaded the effort. “You should be kind to a stranger for we were once a stranger in a foreign land. That Biblical verse speaks to where we’ve all come from. In America, we all come from somewhere.” Griner said the center has already opened an after-school program and plans to host family-oriented activities including recreation, parenting skills training, and educational speakers each month. “We want to connect people with social services so that they have a place where they can go,” said Griner, who speaks Spanish and worked in the Latino community in Union County prior to coming to Newton two and a half years ago. “The flip side of it is to elevate the view that Anglos have of Latinos around here.” Griner said he has spent hours walking Spring Street in Newton “to get a sense of what was going on in the community.” “I say, ‘Welcome,’” he said. “‘How can I help?’” Griner said he found a great need for bi-lingual services to help enroll children in school or to administer care in hospital emergency rooms. Approximately 2,100 Sussex County students speak Spanish as their first language at home, he said. From 1980-1990, the Hispanic population grew from 1,764 to 2,911, or 2.2 percent of Sussex County’s population, according to the U.S. Census. In the next decade, the rate of increase quickened and the population raced to 4,822 by 2000, or 3.3 percent of the county’s residents. Many of the county’s Latinos hail from places like Mexico, Guatemala, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic. Some have permits to perform seasonal work on many of the local farms, but many more are undocumented, said Griner, who does not advocate open borders or illegal immigration, but instead embraces anyone who wants to change their status. “I’m a resident alien here,” said Griner. “My citizenship is to Christ. I’m not promoting breaking the law. I have people who come down here who are living together, but the Church doesn’t promote that. But, if they ask to be married, I support that because they are repenting. They are not happy with their status. They want a different life. That’s how El Refugio functions.” The Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson also is contributing $5,000 to the new outreach center. Blessed Kateri Church in Sparta, which began a migrant worker ministry in the late 1990s, and St. Joseph’s Church in Newton, which began offering Mass in Spanish two years ago, are both chipping in $2,000. Griner said the center eventually hopes to provide immigration assistance with green cards, family petitions, temporary protective status, residency, naturalizations, and work authorizations. “Our goal is to expand beyond our scope and embrace immigration issues,” he said. “If there is some kind of immigration reform that takes place, there’s going to be some need for our assistance. That’s the key to the American Dream.”