MUSCATINE, Iowa —  When a serious car crash halted Maura Garcia’s Christian ministry, she turned to Muscatine’s New Iowan Center to help her recover both her hope and her language skills.

Garcia, 47, started the Aposento Alto Church on Second Street in Muscatine shortly after she and her husband, Raul Miranda, moved here from Los Angelos in 2004.

 Then, in May 2007, Maura’s car collided with a train as she drove to work in West Liberty.

“That day changed my life,” said Maura, who was hospitalized at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for nearly two weeks.

The trauma damaged her spleen and resulted in a frustrating loss of ability for Maura to translate her thoughts from Spanish to English, which she had been learning.

Then, she learned about the free English lessons offered at the New Iowan Center using Rosetta Stone, a software language program.

Maura, who was raised in El Salvador before coming to the U.S. in the 1990s, said her English skills are improving as New Iowan Center coordinator Helen Bolton provides assistance with the course.

“I haven’t had to have a translator for my last two visits with the doctor,” she said smiling.

The staff is also assisting Maura in learning to use the Internet.

“I tell my friends this office is good,” said Maura. “When people first come to Muscatine and don’t know how to fill out a job application, they help you.

“When people have a legal problem, they have an attorney who comes in and helps. And when they don’t have an answer, they ask someone else”

A place for newcomers

The first two New Iowan Centers were established in Muscatine and Sioux City in 2000 to attract and retain immigrants and refugees who then-Gov. Tom Vilsack had hoped would bolster Iowa’s declining population.

According to state statistics, birth rates are down in Iowa and half of the state’s college graduates leave here to find work. In addition, one in every five Iowans will be nearing retirement age in the coming 20 years.

Vilsack and other state officials said immigrants could  figure into the 310,000 new residents the state will need by 2010 to maintain a viable workforce.

 Today, there are 12 New Iowan Centers across the state staffed with people who connect newcomers to jobs and community resources.

Staffs also educate individuals and business representatives on  immigration issues, including  workforce development, cultural diversity and small business programs.

Vivian Jardim

Native Brazilian Vivian Jardim said New Iowan Center services enhance her professional and private life.

Jardim, 37, became a U.S. citizen in November 2008, after consulting with the Center staff.

“It was a very scary process for me at first,” she said. “But the staff at the New Iowan Center worked with me and I learned what documentation I needed and what I needed to do.”

Jardim said the Center services saved her family hundreds of dollars in legal fees by not having to hire a lawyer.

Jardim and her husband, Luciano, moved to Canada from Brazil in 1996 and soon learned her husband’s career field of information technology was booming in the United States.

Bandag sponsored the Jardims so that Luciano could obtain a work visa and come to Muscatine. Vivian said U.S. law allows people with work visas to petition the government for citizenship after  five years.

“The New Iowan Center went out of their way to provide materials and classes for U.S. citizenship, said Vivian. “And it was all free.”

Vivian said Bolton helped her and Luciano prepare their paperwork and get ready for their citizenship interview.

“It put us at ease,” she said.

Vivian, who works in the human resources department at Allsteel in Muscatine, is also refining her language skills at the Center.

“My first language is Portuguese,” she said. “And a lot of people in Muscatine speak Spanish.”

Vivian said she spoke English well enough to get her bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, but she strives to perfect that language as well.

 Mastering English and becoming a citizen gives Vivian a stronger sense of belonging in the Muscatine community as she and Luciano make a home for their sons, Jonathan, 10, and Gabe, 15.

“It doesn’t matter what background you come from,” said Vivian. “If you take advantage of the services at the New Iowan Center, we all win.”

From 2000-06, more than 31,000 immigrants moved to Iowa, bringing the total number of foreign-born Iowans to 122,000.

“We want to be sure that five to 10 years down the road, we have a strong community, not one that’s divided by cultural differences,” said Jardim. “When you have an agency like the New Iowan Center that offers key services, it’s a huge step in the right direction.”

Details

What: The New Iowan Center/Workforce Development office

Where:  2215 Grand Ave.

Muscatine

Contact: Phone, 563 264-6014; E-mail: Marco.Adasme@iwd.iowa.gov

Staff: Marco Adasme, regional supervisor; Mary Helen Bolton, coordinator

and Maria Gonzales, Workforce Associate

Online

Learn more about the New Iowan Centers online at: http://www.iowaworkforce.org/centers/newiowan/

Editor’s note: This story is one in a month-long series the Muscatine Journal is printing in March. The stories focus on local people, groups and businesses that have overcome economic obstacles and other personal adversity to help make the community better and create better lives for themselves and those around them.