Café Pa'lante: Culture. Craft. Coffee
Donation protected
Problem:Cafe's serve as spaces for connection and community building, however in Lancaster City cafe's are disproportionately concentrated in the Downtown Business District and the Northwest of the city. There are currently no cafe’s that forefront the culture that contributes some of the highest quantity and quality beans to the industry. The Latinx community in Southeast Lancaster City deserves a space that serves our coffee, our way.
Solution: Cafe Pa’lante’s goal is to serve as both a community hub for connection, preservation, and education around our diaspora while also highlighting the coffee and food that binds us together. At Cafe Pa'lante, traditional Carribean and Latin American methods of brewing are highlighted alongside Latinx food and curated programming that highlight Latinidad and history. Coffee that reminds us of home becomes a vehicle for education, empowerment, and sharing our culture.
My name is Salina Almanzar and I am a Puerto Rican and Dominican kid from Southeast Lancaster City. My mission as an artist, organizer, and educator here in Lancaster City is to create what I needed as a kid so another generation doesn’t feel like anywhere else is better than here. Part of this, is building a space where Latinx folks are able to be seen, celebrate themselves and let their roots grow a bit deeper.
BACKGROUND: Lancaster City is among many cities in the South Central PA corridor with a large population of Latinx folks. Here and nationally, this number is increasing, and fast. We have been present and resilient through economic droughts, maintaining businesses and cultural programming despite recessions and tragedy in our home countries.
Cafe Pa’lante aims to fill the void of physical, brick and mortar, space where the Latinx community can truly belong without self-editing.
I know there are many cafes in Lancaster City alone BUT Cafe Pa’lante is so much more. It is a cultural center, a community hub, and a truly brave space for the Latinx community. Located in Southeast Lancaster City, Café Pa'lante will be part of the long history of building and preserving cultural history.
MISSION
Café Pa’lante is a creative community hub that fosters the exchange of ideas, preservation of Latinx culture, and promotion of Latinx arts in Lancaster city.
VISION
At Cafe Pa’lante, we envision a Lancaster where the Latinx diaspora’s history is preserved for future generations, new Latinx history is created, and our communities are empowered to create spaces for dynamic social change through arts and culture practice.
CAFÉ PA’LANTE VALUES:
Sharing and preserving our every-day cultural history
Celebrating who we are in every sense of our Latinidad
Providing safe, brave space for Latinx folks to participate and be in their fullness
We are built on a foundation of trust, respect, anti-racism, acceptance and resilience
We believe the arts has the capacity to connect us to our ancestors and to who we can be in our culture
PURPOSE
The core purpose of Café Pa’lante is to serve as a brave space for Latinx arts and culture in Lancaster City.
Solution: Cafe Pa’lante’s goal is to serve as both a community hub for connection, preservation, and education around our diaspora while also highlighting the coffee and food that binds us together. At Cafe Pa'lante, traditional Carribean and Latin American methods of brewing are highlighted alongside Latinx food and curated programming that highlight Latinidad and history. Coffee that reminds us of home becomes a vehicle for education, empowerment, and sharing our culture.
My name is Salina Almanzar and I am a Puerto Rican and Dominican kid from Southeast Lancaster City. My mission as an artist, organizer, and educator here in Lancaster City is to create what I needed as a kid so another generation doesn’t feel like anywhere else is better than here. Part of this, is building a space where Latinx folks are able to be seen, celebrate themselves and let their roots grow a bit deeper.
BACKGROUND: Lancaster City is among many cities in the South Central PA corridor with a large population of Latinx folks. Here and nationally, this number is increasing, and fast. We have been present and resilient through economic droughts, maintaining businesses and cultural programming despite recessions and tragedy in our home countries.
Cafe Pa’lante aims to fill the void of physical, brick and mortar, space where the Latinx community can truly belong without self-editing.
I know there are many cafes in Lancaster City alone BUT Cafe Pa’lante is so much more. It is a cultural center, a community hub, and a truly brave space for the Latinx community. Located in Southeast Lancaster City, Café Pa'lante will be part of the long history of building and preserving cultural history.
MISSION
Café Pa’lante is a creative community hub that fosters the exchange of ideas, preservation of Latinx culture, and promotion of Latinx arts in Lancaster city.
VISION
At Cafe Pa’lante, we envision a Lancaster where the Latinx diaspora’s history is preserved for future generations, new Latinx history is created, and our communities are empowered to create spaces for dynamic social change through arts and culture practice.
CAFÉ PA’LANTE VALUES:
Sharing and preserving our every-day cultural history
Celebrating who we are in every sense of our Latinidad
Providing safe, brave space for Latinx folks to participate and be in their fullness
We are built on a foundation of trust, respect, anti-racism, acceptance and resilience
We believe the arts has the capacity to connect us to our ancestors and to who we can be in our culture
PURPOSE
The core purpose of Café Pa’lante is to serve as a brave space for Latinx arts and culture in Lancaster City.
Organizer
Salina M. Almanzar
Organizer
Lancaster, PA
