The year of 2025 has been a big one for the Latino Community Association, a Central Oregon nonprofit that provides workforce training, immigration services and education for people in Bend and the surrounding area.

So far this year, the organization hired a new executive director, responded to increased deportation threats from the second Trump administration and canceled its hallmark event, Latino Fest, out of fears over potential immigration enforcement.

Now group leaders have taken a step toward more stable footing: buying the building they’ve been working out of for the past four years. The move gives them a sense of permanence and stability in a year that can be qualified as neither for Latino and Hispanic people in Central Oregon.

The nonprofit’s board president, Zavier Borja, called the purchase a “glimpse of hope” amidst “turmoil and uncertain times,” proving that Latinos are still “able to do amazing things.”

The LCA is a prominent partner in serving people in Central Oregon who identify as Latino and Hispanic. At a recent town hall event in Sisters, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden name-checked the group and its new executive director, Catalina Sánchez Frank.

A town hall attendee asked Sen. Wyden’s thoughts on children’s education and ICE raids.

“The issue for the Latino community is just staggering today… and they’re just so frightened,” Wyden said in response. “Fortunately we have a Latino advocacy group.”

According to the new executive director, the nonprofit bought the 7,200-square-foot building on the east side of Bend for $1.8 million at the end of April.

The LCA is one of the oldest and largest organizations serving Latino and Hispanic communities east of the Cascade Mountains, where Latino populations are smaller but growing quickly, according to 2020 U.S. census data.

Borja said it’s the only nonprofit serving culturally specific populations east of Cascades to own their building.

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In addition to Bend, the association has offices in Madras, Prineville and Redmond, where Latinos make up a larger percentage of town populations. Borja said the organization is interested in expanding in the more rural towns of Central Oregon, like parts of Crook County.

Bend is generally an expensive real estate market where buyers need to be ready to strike when an opportunity becomes available. The Latino association was already in the building they ended up buying. They also were not sharing space with other tenants and were able to secure financing to buy the eastside property off market.

Borja calls the purchase “a sign to the community that we, la gente, the people, Latinos, are able to do this as an organization.”

Borja said 2025 was a turning point for the association and that purchasing the building was a silver lining on a year fraught with uncertainty and instability.

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Now part of the organization’s strategic planning is to make the single-story building a more vibrant space: “We want to do murals, we want to decorate the inside, really make it feel ours,” Borja said.

He said staff at the nonprofit were ecstatic.

“We’re doing it for for the staff, for the community to supersede my tenure and other folks’ tenures,” he said. “The community has been super supportive … and just like now, being like, how else can we support?”

As with many nonprofits, he said, that support is through fundraising campaigns.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/04/bend-latino-community-association-building/