Several students and members of the Greater Lansing community celebrated the grand opening of the Xicano Development Center, 800 W. Willow St. on Friday night.
Ernesto Mireles, the center’s director, said the new center is actually a relocation of the former Xicano Development Center, which was in Detroit since 1997.
The southwest Detroit location allowed center volunteers to reach out to the area’s large Mexican-American population, he said.
“We wanted to build a nucleus, since that’s really where a majority of our people are at and where the most help is needed,” the journalism senior said.
The opening of the new location was one of the events for Xicano History month, which continues through February.
Maria Enriquez, a Lansing resident and board member for the center, said having programs such as those the Xicano Development Center offers, can be essential in helping people in urban areas make it through everyday life.
“We believe that people that are empowered with information will survive anywhere,” she said.
But Mireles said it can be a trying task for people who live in inner-city communities, such as ones that exist in Lansing and Detroit, to become politically aware.
“It’s difficult for people who are very poor and who live in a poverty stricken situation,” he said. “They have other issues on hand that are very pressing, such as food and shelter.”
To help the situation, volunteers at the Detroit location took part in community efforts, such as organizing marches and educating community members about police brutality, poverty and other issues, Mireles said.
And they plan to continue the effort in Lansing.
While the center was originally planned to be in Lansing, Mireles said local community members might not have wanted it in their area just a few years ago.
“People would have tried to choke it before it had a chance to bloom,” he said. “But I think four years has made everybody mellow a little bit.”
Lansing provides access to many important populations, Mireles said.
“It’s close to the university and there’s more of a base here in all the communities, university and city,” he said. “And it’s close to the state government, which is a plus, too.”
And Mireles said he hopes center members will take charge in communicating with the student population in particular.
“We want to work more closely with students to teach them how to be organizers and also teach them that it’s OK to be rebellious,” he said. “Change comes when people work for it.”
