When Gustavo Martínez and his family moved to Austin from Venezuela in 2016, he felt isolated. He didn’t have a community to rely on. He didn’t have anyone to teach him how to do basic things like file taxes, decipher the health care system or find English classes.
Nine years later, Martínez has managed not only to make a community for himself, but also to help other Spanish-speaking Austinites navigate life in the U.S. He created a community on Instagram called HispanosATX, which now has 80,000 followers.
“Immigrants will always feel the absence of community when they arrive at their destination,” he said in Spanish. “It’s part of the natural process of being an immigrant.”
KUT and nine other public radio stations got together to look at how different groups think about community for an NPR series called “Seeking Common Ground.” Martínez was part of a group made up of Spanish-speaking Austinites…