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Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos has a new Board of Directors and new list of goals as it enter into its 10th year of operation.
The executive officers for 2020 are President Eduardo R. Rios, Vice President Sonja Villalobos, Secretary Rosalba Merchant, Treasurer Frank Arredondo and Parliamentarian Nicholas “Nico” Costilla. Other board members are Mariana Zamora, John Diaz, Dr. Monica Valadez, Linda Kelsy-Jones, Celia Rosales and Frank Contreras.
Rios has been involved as a board member since April 2019 and helped the organization with governance by facilitating a review and update to the organization by-laws, vision, mission and core values that were approved in December 2019. He serves in other community organizations such as the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce, San Marcos Education Foundation and works on education initiatives with the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District.
Villalobos is a resident of Martindale and a parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary in Martindale. She has been the Centro vice president since 2017 and currently serves on the Martindale City Council - Place 1. She also serves on the Caldwell County Appraisal District Board of Directors and is an SMCISD employee.
Merchant was born and raised in San Marcos. She currently works as a special education teacher and department chair at DeZavala Elementary. She has her master’s degree in education and received the Elementary Teacher of the Year award in 2016. She serves on the Community Action Incorporated board of Directors as secretary. She is also the youngest child of Centro lead founder Ophelia Vasquez-Philo.
Arredondo has served as San Marcos mayor and as a city councilmember. He was a staff member for former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe and worked in the Texas Department of Community Affairs under Governor Ann Richards. He is a HUD Fellow Community Builder and was also a founder of the LULAC 654 San Marcos chapter and received the Greater Dallas NAACP Hero Award.
Costilla is a lifelong resident of San Marcos. He is a 2012 Texas State University graduate and remains active in the Texas State community serving as vice chair on the Texas State Young Alumni Council. He is a member of the San Marcos Police Department Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association and is vice president of the La Sociedad Mutualista Cuauhtémoc. He serves on the San Marcos City Commission Zoning Board of Adjustments and is the lead misdemeanor legal assistant in the office of the Hays County District Attorney’s Office in San Marcos.
Centro currently has four employees including Executive Director Dr. Ricardo Espinoza, Program Coordinator Gloria Salazar, Membership Coordinator Cathi Villalpando and Administrator and Bookkeeper Monica Hernandez as well as two interns, Adam Rech and Grécia Dill.
The board met in January to plan a year of organizational goals and community celebrations.
The organization’s goals include:
- starting a $10 million capital campaign to grow and establish a permanent residency in thier current location and provide needed repairs to the building;
- telling the Centro story through several initiatives that involve the community and collaborations with other local organizations;
- increasing outreach by working with local organizations to collaborate and partner on shared initiatives within and around the community;
- incorporating new programming for adults and seniors, in addition to rich programming for Kindergarten -12th grade;
- and increasing partnershipss in and around our community.
Centro has plans for several key events throughout the year and all except the annual Noche de Gala and Cinco de Mayo events will be free and open to the community. In addition, there will be other smaller events that will occur each month.
For more information on Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, visit their website.
