{"id":1320255,"date":"2020-05-28T23:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T05:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/the-architect-of-voces-unidas-a-voice-for-latinos\/"},"modified":"2020-05-28T23:16:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T05:16:00","slug":"immigrant-stories-the-architect-of-voces-unidas-a-voice-for-latinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/immigrant-stories-the-architect-of-voces-unidas-a-voice-for-latinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant Stories: The architect of Voces Unidas, a voice for Latinos"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"804\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-804x1024.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-804x1024.jpg 804w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-235x300.jpg 235w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-768x979.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-1205x1536.jpg 1205w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920-1607x2048.jpg 1607w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/ImmigrantStories-gpi-052920.jpg 2009w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 804px) 100vw, 804px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Beatriz Soto<\/strong><br \/><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText EdNote\">Intro: Beatriz Soto is an architect and an environmentalist working as Latino Outreach Coordinator for Wilderness Workshop, a local nonprofit organization devoted to protecting western Colorado\u2019s public lands. She recently co-founded Voces Unidas, a network of Latino leaders in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: My parents brought me to the United States when they were in their early 20s. I was 2 and my sister was 6 months old. They came without papers. That was the first time for us, but my father had a long history of working and living in the United States when he was younger.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He grew up in North Chihuahua and North Baja. He did drywall in California, Texas and the border states, so there was this really close connection between the northern states of Mexico and the U.S. border states where, in the \u201870s and \u201880s, it was really easy to cross from one country to the other.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: It was a totally different time then. The border was fluid.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: Absolutely. And that\u2019s how my father grew up. He had this really strong relationship with the United States and lived and worked in both countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: It must have been a harrowing time for your parents. Here they are with two babies, crossing into a new life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: You know, I have talked about this with my mom, and she always says that when you\u2019re young different things motivate you, and they really wanted to get ahead and provide their children with some of the things that they didn\u2019t have when they were younger. But now she reflects back on it and says, \u201cYou know, it\u2019s interesting that would not drive me today. But when I was young that was definitely what drove us to take that kind of a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: Where did you end up when you first came to the United States?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: We were in Houston for a little while and then we moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, when I was 4. They had never been to Florida, and they took off a month ahead of us and lived out of their car until they secured some jobs and were able to rent an apartment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: What did your parents do for a living?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: They had a drywall company, and a lot of their friends and family were the ones that worked for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: So life was pretty good?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: Absolutely. As a child I never realized that we were undocumented. My parents worked Monday through Sunday. I only saw my dad at night sometimes and sometimes not at all, because my parents were always working, I felt that was normal. I didn\u2019t realize until I was older how hard they worked to be successful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: What brought you from Florida to Colorado?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: It was an interesting journey. In 1986, my parents weren\u2019t able to get into the Amnesty process. So they decided to move back to Mexico. We were in Mexico for eight years, and then my father died. My mother was left with three kids, so she decided to move to Colorado when I was a senior in high school. It was really hard for me because I was doing really well in school in Mexico, and I had friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: Did you adjust to Colorado pretty well?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: You know what? I did. It wasn\u2019t easy, but I guess I was used to adjusting. We had moved to different cities. I had been in different schools. I\u2019ve always been pretty good at socializing. I am sensitive to attitudes, and I pick up on things. I quickly learned how to blend, how to dress like people, how to speak like people to make sure that I wasn\u2019t like an \u201cother.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I\u2019ve developed that skill over my life because I have had to immigrate to different countries and adapt. When I got to Mexico, my Spanish was very limited, I didn\u2019t know how to read and write in Spanish, and it took a lot for me, as a fifth-grader, to adapt to a language that I had only heard my parents speak.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: So, out of high school, you were drawn to architecture. Did that happen early in your life or was that something that came later?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: I always knew I wanted to be an architect. My parents worked in the construction industry. My father studied for a career in farming and ag, and he always said that he should have been a civil engineer. I guess it was a natural career choice for me, having lived around construction sites as a child. My parents often took me with them when they went to work.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Other careers that I saw, like being a doctor or an administrator, didn\u2019t appeal to me. By the time I got to middle school, I knew I wanted to be an architect. When I graduated from Basalt High School, I remember looking into universities here, and they were just too expensive. College seemed like this impossible dream I could never achieve in the United States. So I decided to go back to Mexico and study architecture, as soon as I graduated from high school. And it was a good decision. I loved it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Since graduation I have done a lot of the work with environmentally oriented architectural firms. But, overtime, I became more aware of the exclusivity. I was often the only Latina. I began focusing more of my environmental work on the social justice aspect. I began asking myself and others, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t we all coming up with solutions together? If we\u2019re concerned about our environment, if we\u2019re concerned about our climate and future generations, why is it just the few figuring what\u2019s going to work for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: We often disregard huge groups of people in our race to a solution. We\u2019ve seen it during the pandemic. We\u2019ve left out a lot of folks. COVID-19 has forced us to reassess who and what is essential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: Yes, the pandemic doesn\u2019t discriminate. We have all been impacted by it. But some are having a harder time than others. One of the things we are realizing is that the solutions, the systems and the safety nets that are in place are not accessible to everyone. The pandemic is revealing the injustice and racism in our safety nets, our communities and our systems. The archaic systems don\u2019t work for the new world we live in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">I feel like this can be a great opportunity for us as a society and as a community to reinvent, re-evaluate, and develop solutions that can truly help us thrive and make us all more resilient in the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: Was that the reason you co-founded Voces Unidas?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: Absolutely. A lot of Latino leaders that work in different institutions and organizations feel like tokens in their workplace. They often feel like they are only there so the organization can check the diversity box. These are smart, creative people who have solutions that can really help their community and the broader community, but they\u2019re not listened to.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: Can you describe the organization and its purpose and makeup?<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: Voces Unidas is a collaborative effort, bringing Latino leaders and elected officials to meetings where we can have informal but honest conversations with the chiefs of police and city managers and their staffs about issues within the Latino community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When COVID hit our community, we realized that our government and a lot of nonprofits haven\u2019t established a trusted relationship with our community. They are trying to serve our community, but don\u2019t know how. They\u2019re scrambling to do the work that they haven\u2019t done in years. That\u2019s when we realized there should be an organization led by Latinos, founded by Latinos, with a Latino board that is representing our Latino community accurately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Our community is not monolithic. If you think about it, being Latino means 22 countries in this world with very different cultures, very different backgrounds. Latinos in the United States and here in Colorado are very diverse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Gallacher: Well, I know you can\u2019t speak for the whole community, but it has hit Latinos pretty hard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText BoldIntro\">Soto: It has, and I think around the world we\u2019re seeing communities that are marginalized and have little access to resources are the ones that suffer the most. And as we focus on our little valley, our cities and our towns, we just want to make sure that we all come out of this successfully, that the virus doesn\u2019t spread and that the information is culturally and linguistically appropriate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">We want to see communities where all of us can thrive, not just the few. Communities where everyone is recognized for who they are and what they contribute. We\u2019re all here to help our communities, our economies and our families.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/local\/the-architect-of-voces-unidas-a-voice-for-latinos\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beatriz Soto Intro: Beatriz Soto is an architect and an environmentalist working as Latino Outreach Coordinator for Wilderness Workshop, a local nonprofit organization devoted to protecting western Colorado\u2019s public lands. She recently co-founded Voces Unidas, a network of Latino leaders in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties. Soto: My parents brought me to the United States [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 13:10:28","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320255\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}