Richard Ruiz says El Centro began with a focus on educating migrant children, and that migrant women were next. “The one skill these women had that not too many people had was they were bilingual. So that’s when we said, ‘We could sure use a training program and help these young women develop some computer skills and maybe we could find them jobs in the private sector that paid and had benefits.’”
Richard A. Ruiz (left) served as the President and CEO of El Centro from 1976 through 2006, guiding the organization through decades of growth and development. His tenure was marked by a commitment to establishing a stable financial future, including the creation of an endowment that supports the organization’s long-term mission.
BY JOE ARCE AND COREY CRABLEIn depth report
Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series commemorating the 50th anniversary of El Centro in 2026. For part II, please see the next issue of Kansas City Hispanic News.
El Centro’s secret to its longevity is that it takes a holistic approach to serving the people in need, from children to adults. And that can’t be done without a lot of teamwork – multiple people, groups, and businesses working together to help bring El Centro’s mission to life across Wyandotte County and in later years to Johnson County. It’s a partnership that has served the organization well throughout its 50-year history.
This year, El Centro celebrates its success and ongoing mission at the half-century mark. It’s a story of partnerships helping to fulfill multiple needs and in multiple places – and it all begins with the generosity of many people working together. In 1976, determined to circumvent the barriers that existed for Latinos in areas like housing, education, healthcare, and basic social services, a group of community leaders established El Centro de Servicios para Hispanos. An initial $10,000 grant from the Archdiocese of Kansas City helped get the organization off the ground.
Among the founding members were the Cordi-Marian Sisters, who played a vital role in the organization by working with migrant families directly, meeting their needs for transportation, food, healthcare, and translation services. And as the years passed, the services offered by El Centro have expanded to include programming and activities for children and seniors, workforce development, naturalization assistance, health access, and other needs.
Richard Ruiz, one of El Centro’s founders, said that in the mid-1970s, Topeka had an El Centro its presence inspired him to bring the same organization to Kansas City in order to fill the hole left by the closure of three separate Latino-serving organizations earlier in the decade.
“I felt early on that if we were going to establish an organization that would be long lasting, we needed solid funders and we needed multi-funding, not single funding, not single source funding,” Ruiz recalls. “Now, back then, a lot of the nonprofit organizations just had one source of funding, maybe two. And so when we started, I went to Father Ramon Gaitan and to Archbishop Strecker to establish an El Centro in Kansas City, Kansas. The need was obvious because the population was larger in Kansas City.”
While Ruiz secured funding from the Archdiocese, the United Way, and the city itself, the nuns were brought from San Antonio, Texas, to Kansas City. Eventually, Ruiz had raised enough money for the Archdiocese to hire a part-time director of the fledgling organization. Ruiz would be installed as executive administrator in 1978.
Ruiz says El Centro began with a focus on educating migrant children, and that migrant women were next.
“The one skill these women had that not too many people had was they were bilingual. So that’s when we said, ‘We could sure use a training program and help these young women develop some computer skills and maybe we could find them jobs in the private sector that paid and had benefits,’” Ruiz says. “That’s when we started our job training program. It was led by Sister Linda Roth.” Additional funding from the Kauffman Foundation paid for a computer lab.
Next was affordable housing for the families who were coming to use El Centro’s services. By this time, El Centro was able to purchase the Woodland Hills apartment complex, where families could rent an apartment for only $400 per month.
They were able to now prove to others that the organization had a successful record of delivering on what they had promised.
“We were always able to demonstrate, ‘Hey, we can train these people,’ and demonstrate, ‘Hey, we can provide housing. We can do childcare,’” he says.
Even though childcare only cost families $35 per week, Ruiz notes that El Centro was still able to make money. And, he adds, El Centro either had properties or spaces donated, or they received good deals on them anytime the organization needed to expand. And expansion happened often over the years, as demand for its services grew.
Eventually, Ruiz would sell the Woodland Hills complex toward the end of his tenure.
“I sold Woodland Hills because El Centro at that point was too big and it was hard to manage and I was getting ready to leave,” Ruiz explains. “And so my thought and along with the board was that if we sell it, we can reduce the amount of work and stress that any administrator coming in would have. And with the proceeds, we could develop that endowment. And so we did and we were successful.”
Whether they were serving children, young adults, or seniors, Ruiz says he was always sure to disseminate surveys that attempted to gauge the needs of those people seeking El Centro’s help.
“We would go out and we would actually survey 800 families to look at, ‘OK, what is it that you really need to make your family successful?’ And that helped us. In many ways, that needs assessment was crucial. Especially when we went to the foundations for funding -- we could show 800 surveys, and the work of Melinda Lewis’ collection of data (surveys) and the interpretations of that data into professional report for the funders and community. You couldn’t go against that kind of data,” he says.
And the work of Melinda Lewis’ collection of data (surveys) and the interpretations of that data into professional report for the funders and community.
Ruiz left the helm of El Centro after 30 years of service.
Board member Teresa Pacheco, who also served as EL Centro’s first female chairperson, joined the board when she was only in her mid-20s. Her age wasn’t considered a hindrance rather, her youth was exactly what the founders were looking for.
“They wanted somebody to represent the youth, Hispanic youth,” Pacheco says. “I saw that there were things that needed to be done in our city of Kansas City, Kansas, to help our community, and there just wasn’t anything happening.”
As a new mom, Pacheco says the need for childcare options stood out to her as a need El Centro could fill.
“When I became a mom. I came to Richard and I said, ‘You know what we don’t have? We don’t have a daycare,’” she recalls. “So I proposed we have a daycare, and we still have it today.”
Pacheco says both of her sons were “right there with me, volunteering” for El Centro, making it an entire family affair. And though she has served on other boards for other organizations, El Centro remains special.
“I just loved being on that board when I was on that board,” Pacheco says. “Where I saw there was a need, I wanted to be part of it, not just being a volunteer, but actually making some decisions.”
Pacheco credits much of her growth as a leader to Ruiz, for whom she has nothing but thanks and accolades. The founders, too, deserve that praise, she says.
“Thank you,” Pacheco says. “Thank you to them, because they’re the ones that took that initiative. … And now look how fast 50 years went.”
Lisa Castro, who worked in human resources and other duties for El Centro for 17 years, says she fondly remembers Christmas programs, bowl-a-thons, and golf tournaments that brought a community together for the good of others.
“I feel a lot of pride. I was a part of what they are today,” says Castro, who also thanks Ruiz for his leadership and guidance. “There is a lot of pride in it, and we just did their job, and that was it.”
Sandra Olivas, who participated in El Centro’s after-school program as a little girl, says she remembers El Centro’s staff helping her with homework as she waited for her parents to pick her up after work.
“I always, to this day, remember that time just feeling safe and loved, and I really believe that I wouldn’t be where I am today without that foundation and that amazing care that I received from El Centro at such a young age,” says Olivas, who says attorney Carlos Murguia helped her parents in their quest for citizenship.
And now that El Centro has reached such a major milestone in its history, Olivas says it is a cause for celebration for anyone who has helped with or been helped by the organization.
“Fifty years is an accomplishment when you think about everything that’s happened in this country, like the economy -- a lot of non-profits haven’t survived you know the pandemic, or the housing market crash,” Olivas says. “So the fact that El Centro has been around for 50 years and is standing strong, I believe, has everything to do with the founders and specifically everything to do with Richard Ruiz.” In our next issue we will take a look what the services El Centro is offering today and visit with the current president and CEO Erica Andrade.
