By Cindy Schroeder
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A new kind of green card will be almost as important to Hispanic residents in Northern Kentucky as the one denoting their immigrant status.

The Northern Kentucky Hispanic Resource Card contains about 80 local phone numbers on everything from doctors and dentists to transportation and legal needs.

FOR HELP

Information: For information on how to get a Northern Kentucky Hispanic Resource Card or have your agency included in future listings, call Louise Danzl, senior health planner at the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department, (859) 363-2032. To obtain resource cards: Resource cards are available by faxing a request to (513) 541-0099 or by mailing a request to: Resource Cards, 5300 Hamilton Ave. No. 210, Cincinnati, OH 45224. Please enclose a self-addressed envelope for individual orders.

The fold-out wallet-sized card also includes phone numbers for agencies that offer English and citizenship classes, help with taxes, housing and transportation needs and information on food stamps and food pantries.

The resource card is available at Northern Kentucky libraries, local Hispanic restaurants and stores, Northern Kentucky health department offices, HealthPoint Family Care clinics and many social service agencies, said Louise Danzl, senior health planner with the Northern Kentucky Health Department, who helped develop the card.

"The nice aspect of this card is that people will be able to talk to someone in their native tongue," Danzl said.

"A lot of people moving here from South and Central America don't speak English, or they don't speak it fluently. These cards will help connect them with the services they might need to settle in here."

Sister Juana Mendez, a pastoral associate and director of the Centro de Amistad at the Cathdral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, said the resource card has led a number of people to the 3-year-old center on East 12th Street.

"People are taking the card and passing it on to others," Sister Juana said. "The resource card gives them information on who to call.''

The Centro de Amistad serves about 65 to 70 people a week. It offers job placement, GED instruction, and classes in English, Spanish and citizenship. The center also teams with Catholic Social Services to provide housing classes, and a lawyer stops by twice a week to give tax advice.

Danzl said the resource card is needed because of Northern Kentucky's growing Hispanic population. In the 1990 Census, there were 1,377 Hispanics in Boone, Kenton, Campbell and Grant counties. By 2000, that had increased to 4,368.

Those who work closely with Hispanics think the numbers are actually much higher because of how many undocumented Spanish-speaking residents live in Northern Kentucky, Danzl said.

The Northern Kentucky Hispanic Resource Card is a project of the Rockdale Temple, the Northern Kentucky Independent District Health Department, members of the Alliance for Hispanics in the Ohio River Area, and the Northern Central Area Health Education Center.

The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati paid for the project.

E-mail cschroeder@enquirer.com