Hispanic Festival 2024 is the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan’s annual celebration, and it wouldn’t be complete without representatives of Davenport University’s Casa Latina joining the festivities in downtown Grand Rapids.

The Hispanic Center has held this event for nearly 50 years, and they bill it as an expressive way to celebrate and share heritage, culture and traditions with the entire community. It’s taking place August 2 – 4 on the Calder Plaza.

“We are thrilled to be a sponsor of the Hispanic Festival and sponsor a booth,” said Carlos Sanchez, the executive director of Davenport’s Casa Latina. “We have created a unique program at Davenport that smooths the path for bilingual students to obtain degrees in a variety of areas. We are passionate about our culture and our heritage, and we are equally passionate about increasing the number of Latinos with college degrees.”

Casa Latina at Davenport University is taking applications right now for classes that will start this fall. All of the degrees in business, technology, urban education, health care and the sciences have courses entirely online, with one week taught in Spanish and one week taught in English. Being present at the Hispanic Festival is one way to expose the bilingual population in West Michigan to the newly launched program. 

“We will have a booth where we will be giving out Davenport swag and talking about our Casa Latina programs,” said Alejandra Guillén, director of marketing and recruitment, Casa Latina. “This is a great opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to the Hispanic community and to increase our visibility among festival attendees.”