SPOKANE, Wash. — Since 2022, Latinos En Spokane (LES) has partnered with bilingual driving programs in central Washington.
Executive Director of LES, Jennyfer Mesa, says that these types of services are essential for people who only speak Spanish. However, the cost of going back and forth was starting to get too much for LES. Mesa says the organization pays for 13-17 people to take these classes and transport them to Kennewick monthly for free. Mesa says since LES started helping people get driver's licenses, the waitlist has just gotten longer and longer.
"We offer all of our services, whether that is our legal services or our driver's education services, free to anyone who earns 60k or less," says Mesa.
LES wanted to start offering these classes solely in Spokane to reach more people. One of the organization's managers, Andres Sanchez, recently got certified to teach the program through Western Oregon University.
Sanchez came to Spokane from Colombia after the pandemic and started working with LES. He says that he is grateful to be in a position to help everyone in the community through these services.
"This is a really great gap that we have here, and we have to fill that gap here and provide driving education classes in Spanish," says Sanchez.
Since LES started the drivers ed program in 2022, it has helped over 100 people in the Spokane area get their driver's licenses. One of those people is Miguel Lasso.
Lasso is a refugee from Ecuador and only speaks Spanish. He says that when he first got here to Spokane two years ago, there weren't any programs to help them get things like a driver's license.
"It was very frustrating at first... that is why I am very grateful to have found LES and take classes to get what I need required by law," says Lasso.
Latinos En Spokane says that the new classes are set to start in October 2024. The program will be specifically geared towards those who only speak Spanish at the beginning, but the goal is to eventually have more classes available in English.