The organization has expanded in the past two years, despite fears in the rise of ICE arrests
PITTSBURGH —
For Brenda Garcia, growing up Latina in Pittsburgh sometimes felt isolating.
“Growing up in Pittsburgh as one of the only Latinas in my entire high school or in my elementary school was a little difficult. And I think it made me sometimes embarrassed,” Garcia said.
It’s just one of the many reasons Brenda decided to take to the power of social media and start “Latinas en Pittsburgh” two years ago.
“Selfishly, I wanted new friends. I wanted friends in the community that were like-minded, that were bilingual, that had a similar background,” she said.
The account initially started off in hopes of organizing a walk. It’s now turned into art classes, fitness classes, World Cup parties and a lifelong connection to each other.
“What was a small community group has really evolved into something so much bigger. Now that it continues to grow, I’m just hoping for more to expand to grow our community and to really just be there for each other,” Garcia said.
What started with the intention of an all-female group has slowly morphed into something for everyone.
“You know, the husbands came here for work, and the wives were just like, ‘Where can I find this community?’ And once they found us, the husbands were like, ‘Well, where are the men?'” Garcia said, laughing.
But with a big group of Hispanic people, it can bring some scrutiny, especially with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests on the rise, not only here in our area but across the country.
“We deserve to be in these spaces, and in a way, I think I speak for a lot of my community members where we want to be in the spaces, but we feel a little intimidated,” Garcia said.
And due to that heightened ICE activity, Garcia was forced to cancel a high-profile rodeo she had been planning for months.
“I’m very protective over my group. At the majority of our events, we have security that we have hired on our own to kind of keep a lookout for things,” she said.
But through the potential fear, Garcia stays resilient in keeping this group together. She says she hopes to take her organization’s social media to something more.
“One day hopefully I can turn it into either a nonprofit or a more established organization, where we can really grow so much more and connect throughout the state,” Garcia said.
You can read more about the group and find all their upcoming events on their Instagram, latinaspgh.