Spanish-speaking immigrants comprise 20 percent of recent growth in King County. An estimated 64,632 new residents were born in Mexico, Central or South America. Many have limited English skills, and are illiterate in their native Spanish. To serve this community, KCLS needed services tailored to their needs. KCLS selected and implemented Plazas Comunitarias, a Mexican Consulate-sanctioned program for adults, offering free curriculum materials in Spanish for elementary, middle school and GED. KCLS provides skilled tutors, and graduates are certified by Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education. Connecting potential learners with this new program presented challenges for KCLS’ Outreach Services.

Marketing Plazas to low literacy Hispanic/Latino immigrants provided opportunities for innovation to enhance KCLS Outreach Services by creating specific promotional tools to reach their defined audience — people like Jarlin. Like many immigrants, Jarlin Diaz knew little English. With a third grade education, Jarlin was illiterate in two languages. Jarlin heard an ad for KCLS’ Plazas Comunitarias on Spanish-language television. He signed up, and has completed elementary school at age 46 with an A+ on his final math exam. All free, in the library. Now Jarlin’s story (in video) is being used to attract more participants to the valuable program.

Jarlin’s story illustrates KCLS’ Plazas Comunitarias program perfectly. On video, and in his own words, Jarlin is the ideal way to connect with people like himself, and introduce them to the Plazas Comunitarias program in their native language. Now available online in English and Spanish, Jarlin’s success is a powerful recruiting tool. Jarlin’s story has inspired others through more than 825 views on KCLS’ website, and more than 50 likes and 20 shares through Facebook & Twitter. Resulting inquiries indicate demand for funding to expand the program in 2017.