“They knew how important it was to find connections for the local community; we are very grateful.” Hola has raised awareness of local scholarship funds and programs impacting the growing Hispanic community (while LULAC scholarships are available to any students), Zertuche said. “They were key to make sure everyone in the community is informed, to keep engaged in what’s going on in our communities,” she said. The paper also “was instrumental for the East Moline Parade and Fiesta. Hola supported this event and donated many hours to showcase and promote this event.” Hola president Tar Macias – a 47-year-old Mexican-American who moved to Moline in 1987 – said his mission was inspired by Jerry Taylor, former publisher of The Dispatch and Rock Island Argus, who told him: “A newspaper is a reflection of the community it serves.” Starting in 2005, The Dispatch printed Hola for many years; it’s currently printed in Marshalltown, Iowa. Its mission statement is: “Hola America will always do its best to properly reflect the Latino community fairly and with dignity.” Macias said when the local or national media focuses on Latino stories, “it’s mainly when we do something wrong.” “For every negative news article about a Latino committing a crime, there are literally thousands of positive stories of Latinos doing something good and contributing to our communities,” he said. “But those stories seldom get told. That is what Hola America has been trying to do for many years.” Macias’ mother’s side of the family has lived in Moline for seven generations. Language was his biggest challenge growing up. “I did not know any English and I had to take all my classes in English at Moline High School,” he said, graduating in 1990, before studying at Black Hawk College. He worked for Voces Weekly, a bilingual newspaper, for about a year and after it went out of business, he saw a void to fill in the area. Macias and his wife Erika are the only official employees of Hola, but they have about 10 freelancers and others who work with them on a regular basis. Before this past April and Covid-19, they published and distributed the paper for free twice a month – 10,000 copies of Hola America News and Hola Iowa (started in 2014). Since April, they combined the publications and print once a month. “With Covid-19, we are reevaluating how we are going to approach the print distribution,” Macias said. “Some locations are closed for now – like restaurants and offices — but some locations like El Mexicano food market in Moline, 1,200 newspapers go there with every issue, just in that place alone.” “Many newspapers are going online only, but I’m afraid we have a big audience that still prefers the hard copy of the newsprint,” he said. “On our social media platform, we are reaching around 250,000 people every month with an engagement of 100,000 people every 28 days in a consistent basis for the last few years.” Its website, HolaAmericaNews.com, reaches about 20,000 people per week. “Their content is so family- and communityminded, also educational,” said Maria Ontiveros, president of Mercado on Fifth. “The fact they’ve been highlighting positive stories in the Latinx community has helped the community thrive. The bilingual resources on immigration, highlighting the community events has helped the Latinx community thrive in the Quad-Cities. Journalism is a tough field to be in and they’ve hung in there for the past 20 years. “That’s because Erika and Tar are so dedicated to this community,” she said. “We’re lucky to have them.” One of the biggest impacts Hola America has had is hosting visits by the Mexican Consulate based out of Chicago, to the Quad-Cities, Macias said. “These visits have helped literally thousands of Mexican residents of the Quad-Cities and surrounding areas get their passports and matricula cards,” he said, noting the cards are needed for a Mexican national to open a bank account. The URBAN EXPERIENCE | 2020 29
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