SAGINAW, MI - On Washington Avenue across from Hoyt Park near downtown Saginaw sits a mansion that stands apart from the structures surrounding it.
The colors are bright and vibrant, set against a white foundation, representing Hispanic heritage.
The structure serves as headquarters for the Mexican American Council – or MAC - Center.
“I wanted the building to stand out so that you know where the MAC is,” said Jeremiah Gallardo. “These are Mexican colors and they are vibrant.”
Gallardo, a board member for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) team that was implemented for the project of upgrading and restoring the center, said he wanted colors that would “draw attention.”
The Saginaw City Council awarded around $620,000 overall for capital improvements to the MAC Center, located at 1537 S. Washington Ave.
A focus on culture and identity
Raymond “Bobby” DeLeon, president of the MAC, says that when the center re-opens its doors, it will focus on youths and its four pillars: education, music, art and culture.
“My Hispanic young people don’t know who they are,” DeLeon, 73, said. “They don’t know how to speak the language. They don’t understand the language.”
Gallardo, 44, a generation under DeLeon, couldn’t agree more.
“I’m a second-generation Mexican American and I don’t know any Spanish,” Gallardo said. “That’s because when my dad came here, speaking Spanish could get you a beating and my parents didn’t want us to be beat.”
Gallardo said his generation’s culture and identity were stripped.
“My dad’s name was Raul when he came over,” Gallardo said. “He now goes by Roy. Now Spanish is the second biggest language. But I didn’t get a chance to have (that culture). My kids didn’t get a chance. I’m trying to change that.”
John Ayala, project manager for the MAC Center’s ARPA project said that he would push for integration over assimilation.
Ayala, 73, said his family has been in the United States since 1920, and still faces problems.
“A man can come over here from France right now and no one will tell him to go back to where he came from, yet my family has been here for a hundred years,” Ayala said.
The building needed repairs when the MAC received it 30 years ago and this is the first major facelift it’s getting.
“ARPA came along and gave us an amazing opportunity,” Ayala said.
The 150-year-old building has issues with asbestos, mold, lead, handicap accessibility and the chimney.
Though it does not have a federal designation, the structure is considered historic.
The future starts here
Once programming returns, Ayala has plans to set his people up to succeed.
Hispanics are projected to make up 30% of the U.S. population by 2042, part of a larger demographic shift where minorities are expected to become the majority of the country’s population, outnumbering non-Hispanic whites, who will fall to less than half.
Part of the shift, Ayala said, is because of the different ethnicities within the Hispanic race itself.
“We are very diverse,” he said. “We go from Afro-Latino to European Latino. Then you have blended families.”
Ayala believes Hispanics are mainly silent politically.
However, he is aware of the coming population shift.
“Our goal is to position (the next generation) well so that when opportunities came up you could make the right choice,” he said. “If we can’t get to first base, we’re not going to score.”
The economy and the 2024 election are pressing issues, DeLeon added.
“Which one is going to take us in the right direction with the economy?” DeLeon asked. “This year we are saying to everyone that if you don’t put us at the table we won’t vote.”
Ayala adds that Hispanics are not part of the political process for a myriad of reasons.
“We are not into self-promotion,” Ayala said. “We are invisible and our hard work speaks for us.”
A key goal is to encourage training beyond high school in the skilled trades.
Gallardo, a master barber, said college is good for some, but it isn’t the only path to a successful career.
“I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” Gallardo said. “A family of stylists. A family of artists.”
The artsy side is displayed in the bold design of the exterior of the center.
It is a color concept inspired by his daughter, Anisela, who is studying architectural design at Central Michigan University.
As work at the center nears completion, programming is expected to begin with a renewed focus on culture and training.
“We need to be prepared for what the future will bring,” Ayala said. “Have every generation better prepared to achieve more than the previous generation. That starts here.”
