Expanding Outreach

MARIMER MCKENZIE, outreach coordinator with New Hanover County’s Office of Diversity and Equity, is taking her work with the Hispanic/Latino communities to the next level. As a newly appointed member of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, McKenzie will help advise the governor on issues related to the Hispanic/Latino community in North Carolina and support efforts to improve racial and ethnic relations.

“As part of the Governor’s Council, I hope to learn there and advocate more for our community at the state level,” McKenzie says. “I also hope to bring back what I’m learning and share it with our local commission, to advocate locally, and to make changes for the good.”

McKenzie says one of the issues she will focus on with the state advisory council is breaking down language barriers. In addition to ensuring that those with limited English language proficiency have access to vital information in their native language, programs that offer English classes also need to be available, McKenzie says.

“They go hand in hand,” she says.

Language accessibility is an integral part of McKenzie’s work locally, too. In addition to translating official documents and serving as an interpreter, she is helping the county create a language access plan.

“Health and education language access is huge,” McKenzie says. “We need more interpreters in schools and more English as a Second Language programs.”

However, language accessibility is only one of McKenzie’s goals for the county. She also hopes that by working with organizations such as the Latino Alliance and Cape Fear Latinos, the county will develop wrap-around services for Hispanic and Latino residents, whose needs are wide-ranging.

“Some are at the poverty level or working two jobs, but we also have professionals with Ph.D.s and doctors in the Hispanic/Latino community,” McKenzie says. “It’s a variety, but we see the strain on families when they are marginalized and lacking in resources. We want to try and help them empower themselves.”

McKenzie played a key role in the development of the New Hanover County Hispanic-Latino Commission that formed this year, helped hundreds of area Latinos get COVID testing and vaccines, and worked with the Latino Alliance to create community identification cards. These cards allow residents without official papers to receive educational and health services and are recognized by law enforcement. McKenzie also recently collaborated with the area’s Latino organizations on the Cape Fear Latinos Festival, which was attended by 5,000 people.

McKenzie has also aided several families facing homelessness, and she assisted as a volunteer with Church World Services to open a refugee resettlement office in New Hanover County.

McKenzie has found her home at New Hanover County’s Office of Diversity and Equity.

“I get so much reward when I do something for someone and help them and make their life easier,” she says. “It’s very fulfilling.”

To view more of photographer Terah Hoobler’s work, go to terahhoobler.com.

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