Jenice Contreras, the executive director of the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development, speaking to members of council on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.
Jenice Contreras, NEOHCED's executive director, told both council and Scene that CentroVilla25 would have far-reaching positives in and outside of the Clark-Fulton community. She anticipates 119 long-term jobs being created in market operation, along with 46 construction jobs in the next two years—a good deal of those, Contreras urged, to be held by workers inside the community.
"We want at least 10 percent of the 20 percent minority hires to be Latino-owned business," Contreras said outside Council Chambers on Tuesday."We want our community to say, 'We did this, we built it, we financed it, we worked on it.'" Finishing a nearly decade-long funding race was also an emotional milestone for Contreras, who grew up nearby on West 30th and Clar, and who'd attended Lincoln West High School. The vast majority of Contreras's career, whether in public health or small business development, has been rooted on the corner of West 25th and Clark, just one block north of where CentroVilla25 will be built.
Unlike Little Italy to the east, or Ohio City's Market District to the north, Clark-Fulton has long been plagued by a lack of any official historical recognition and a business main street marred by fast food chains and a lack of walkability."We have been like a secret: Where's the Latino community? Where's the best rice and beans? Where's the best empanada?" she said. With a centralized market,"there will be no secret. Our community will be visible.