ST. GEORGE — Some businessmen are working to create an organization to help members of Utah's Hispanic community throughout the state.
Alan Crooks and Marco Diaz are forming the Utah Hispanic Council, which they hope will be a statewide resource for people who struggle with language and cultural barriers. They say there are local organizations with similar goals throughout Utah, but they want a statewide collaboration.
"We were meeting with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Salt Lake," Crooks said. "We know very well the Salt Lake community, but Salt Lake isn't (the entire) Hispanic community. By creating a statewide effort, we can leverage the power of all of them together."
Crooks and Diaz are organizing chapters throughout the state. The council would help with matters such as education, jobs and other issues that can be hindered by a language barrier.
"There have been some groups that have been very adamant in creating divides," Diaz said. "Our idea is not just how to meet people's needs, but how do we build bridges? How do we bring people together?"
Diaz said one central idea agreed upon by the members of the council is the need to help members of the Hispanic community learn English.
"If you want to succeed in this country, you have to learn English," he said.
Crooks also said, however, that part of the effort may involve adding Spanish-language options to existing programs to help bridge the gap.
"We'd like to make local governments see the benefit of making things available to people," Crooks said.
The group will meet Friday to review the initial efforts to build the council.
"It was brought up that sometimes they can't get access to things just because they're not heard," Crooks said. "We're not trying to solve all the problems. … We're a clearing house of ideas and then we can … go to the resource that's helping the community or create a resource."