Category: <span>LoGroNo</span>

Viking Terrace is a neighborhood on the Northeast side of the city of Northfield. It is a diverse community in general but it is the heaviest Latino/a inhabited neighborhood. In 2006, Greenvale Park Elementary School, located just over the creek behind Viking Terrace had a total of 14% Latino/a families. From 87 registered Latino/a students 67 had Viking Terrace addresses. This numbers are in high contrast to 5% and 3% for Bridgewater and Sibley elementary schools on the other side of town. The Greenvale Park School numbers are also in contrast with the official 5% reported Latino/a population in Northfield, and with the 4+% for Rice County, but right in line with the 14.4% Hispanic/Latino population of the nation according to 2000 census data.

The fire last Monday that destroyed the home of Selene and Miguel Rojas was caused by electrical wiring issues according to the fire department’s declarations to the Northfield News yesterday. Whatever the cause, the fact is that the home was destroyed and the family needs support.

On Monday night, I went out to the site and found many neighbors standing outside, then Ray Andrade, the president of St. Dominic Catholic Church’s Hispanic council came out and we organized a short community meeting to look into what needed to be done.

First we checked the status of the family, we learned that they were staying with Selene’s mother at The Woods II apartment building, that they were o.k. physically, and their short-term housing was arranged. Debbie Haan, the owner of Viking Terrace had also provided factual information about the family’s whereabouts and was working already on temporary housing options together with taking calls of people wanting to donate common home items. Father Dennis Dempsey of St. Dominic’s Catholic Church had also instructed the release of emergency funds from the church for immediate support for the family.