Archive for July 2022

[WLHA 006]: We Live Here Auténtico! | Tania Interian | Opening Doors Fully, Bilingually and Authentically for Community

Born in Mexico City, Mexico, the second of four children, Tania earned her law degree in Mexico City and worked there as an attorney until she moved to the United States in 2000, where she currently lives with her family.

After arriving in the USA, Tania worked as a volunteer at C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates) working as a sworn-in-officer of the court. In court, she represented abused and neglected children that were in need of a safe and permanent home. She also worked as a volunteer for the Family Justice Center as an interpreter for non-English speaking victims of domestic violence.

In 2008, Tania started her career at State Farm, first as a team member, where she proved to be a valuable employee who distinguished herself with her attention to customers’ needs. State Farm recognized her potential and the need for a bilingual agent in the St. Louis metropolitan area and after a challenging and competitive selection process, she was chosen to start a demanding training program that took over 3 years. She consistently had to prove to the company through different competencies that she would be a long time, engaged and productive State Farm agent. 

Tania opened the doors to Tania Interian Agency in 2013 and in July 2014, Tania finally signed her lifetime contract with State Farm. As a State Farm agent, Tania has built a strong presence in the fast-growing Hispanic community in Illinois and Missouri with a fully bilingual team. Her entire team shares a passion for educating the community about risk and insurance.

Tania is actively involved in community through sponsorships of events as well as educational seminars. She is always looking for ways to give back and strengthen the community where she lives and works.

She has been closely involved with the Latino Roundtable of Southwestern Illinois for many years and currently serves on the board. While Tania’s main work is an insurance agent, she also sees the need to serve as a reliable resource and advocate for the Hispanic community.

Outside of work, Tania enjoys spending time with her husband and her two beautiful daughters, who are always the inspiration for everything she does, as well as her rescued dogs Lola and George.

For several years, Tania has been involved through the Latino Roundtable of Southwestern Illinois, in many events to help the community come together in a safe family environment and provide resources for necessities and comforts that are beyond their economic means. Most recently, in 2020, Tania led an effort to win a grant from the State Farm Neighborhood Assist Program for Fairmont City, Illinois, with the purpose of bringing internet connectivity to this underserved community. 40 grants were awarded from more than 2,000 applicants with worthy causes from all over the country. Tania’s motivation for applying for the grant was to honor the residents of Fairmont City, Illinois, with two important purposes: provide the connectivity needed in today’s world and to show the residents of Fairmont City that they are important, valued and not forgotten. Thanks to winning this grant and the noise that it generated, Charter Spectrum decided to bring internet wiring to Fairmont City. after many years of failed attempts. (You can find out more about this specific effort in Fairmont City by listening to Katie Heaton’s episode from last week)

Tania’s Agency has served as an insurance educator for the Hispanic Community, guiding and helping them as a resource for both customers and non-customers since the first day the agency opened their doors. The whole team is involved in many events throughout St. Louis and Illinois that give back to the communities and has been one of the main Sponsors of the Hispanic Festival in St. Louis since 2013.

Tania is the only State Farm Agency with a fully bilingual team (English/Spanish) in the entire state of Missouri and serves the state of Illinois as well.

Things to know in this episode:

C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates)

The National CASA/GAL Association for Children supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy for children and youth who have experienced abuse or neglect. We believe that every child should be given the opportunity to thrive in a safe and loving home.
nationalcasagal.org

Tania Interian Insurance Agency
gowithtania.com
tania.interian.ko5q@statefarm.com

Mexico City, Mexico
https://www.visitmexico.com/en/mexico-city
#ThinkMexico

Fairmont City Library Center
4444 Collinsville Road
Fairmont City, IL 62201
618-482-3966
Learn more at https://mvld.org/fairmont_info

Fairmont City
City Hall Annex
2568 N 41st St, Ste C
Fairmont City, Illinois 62201
(618) 274-6306
info@fairmontcityil.com
Learn more at fairmontcityil.com

Mississippi Valley Library District
Learn more at mvld.org
For all inquires, contact: kylaw@mvld.org

The Latino Roundtable Southwestern Illinois
The Latino Roundtable Southwestern Illinois is a group of community organizations, businesses, colleges, universities and agencies unified in purpose to develop and expand resources of social services to the Latino community in St. Louis Metro East area.
FB: @latinoroundtable
thelatinoroundtable@gmail.com
(618) 482-3966

Connections:
Connect with Tania Interian:
Facebook: Tania Interian, Agent, State Farm
Instagram: gowithtaniainterian

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of “We Live Here Autentico”. If you haven’t done so already, please take a minute and leave a quick rating and review of the show on Apple Podcasts. It will help us to keep delivering life-changing information for you every week!

With only a few months to go before she departs from the Missouri legislature, Sen. Jill Schupp joined St. Louis Public Radio’s Jason Rosenbaum to talk about her time in the House and Senate.

The Creve Coeur Democrat will represent the 24th District until the end of the year, when term limits will end her service in the General Assembly’s upper chamber.

Schupp has been promoting You Can, Too!, a book profiling all 36 women who have been members of the Missouri Senate. Currently, there are 11 female senators — the most at any time in the state’s history.

Here’s what Schupp talked about on the program:

• Why she enjoyed being in the Senate more than the House, especially since Democrats have historically had more power in the Senate.
• How her perceptions of the filibuster changed over time. In the Senate, individual lawmakers can talk on a bill indefinitely to either try to kill it or force compromise.
• Whether Missouri’s recently enacted ban on most abortions will affect upcoming elections, including the one in the 2nd Congressional District. Schupp unsuccessfully ran for the seat that includes St. Louis-area suburbs, which has become more Republican after redistricting.
• How her party can be competitive again in the foreseeable future.

Schupp was first elected to the Senate in 2014 in a highly competitive race against Republican Jay Ashcroft, who eventually became secretary of state. Before winning that election, Schupp served in the House from 2009 to the beginning of 2015.

In 2020, Schupp unsuccessfully ran against U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, in an expensive and high-profile contest.

Schupp also served on the Creve Coeur City Council and the Ladue School Board before being elected to the Missouri General Assembly.

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jill Schupp on Twitter: @jillschupp

St. Louis County executive hopeful Jane Dueker, the latest guest on the Politically Speaking podcast, talked about why she’s challenging incumbent Sam Page on Aug. 2.

Dueker is an attorney who previously served as chief of staff during part of Gov. Bob Holden’s administration. Until recently, Dueker was a lobbyist — most notably representing state and local police unions. She ended her registration as a lobbyist to be able to raise money for her campaign committee.

The winner of the Dueker-Page contest will likely face state Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, in November.

Here’s what Dueker discussed on the show:

• Why she decided to make the leap from being a behind-the-scenes player to political candidate. 
• Criticism about how she served as an unpaid adviser to former St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger, who resigned in 2019 before pleading guilty to corruption charges.
• How crime prevention would be a major priority if she were to become county executive.
• Possible cooperation between St. Louis County and St. Louis, including whether the city should join the county as a municipality. Efforts to combine St. Louis and St. Louis County have faltered for decades, most recently with the failed Better Together plan in 2019.

Dueker worked in the Missouri attorney general’s office before becoming chief of staff for Holden. The St. Louis native eventually returned to the private sector. She has been involved in high-profile legal cases, including lawsuits against the city’s minimum wage law and a recent legal case around the St. Louis County Council’s district boundaries.

Page is slated to record an episode of Politically Speaking later this week.

Follow Rachel Lippmann on Twitter: @rlippmann

Follow Jason Rosenbaum on Twitter: @jrosenbaum

Follow Jane Dueker on Twitter: @janedueker 

The folks of Fairmont City, Illinois didn’t realize how much they needed a library until they’d gotten one. It took some convincing. In the early 2000’s there was no library in Fairmont City. When there was a proposal to open one, it was met with resistance and concern from the community. After all, libraries are funded by local people through local taxes, nonprofit and for-profit grants and individual donations.

Thank goodness for Katie Heaton! She knew a good librarian puts their ear down, listens and really pays attention to the needs of their patrons. “You can hear the heartbeat of the community and when you hear that heartbeat, you can figure out what the needs are”, Katie says. Her goal was always to meet the needs of the people she served, whatever that need may be, from literacy to resources to broader partnerships and community services.

Katie Heaton started her career in library science in 1997 and is now the Assistant Director of the Mississippi Valley Library District, which includes the Collinsville and Fairmont City Library Centers. She’s been building community and using her gifts to help the rising Hispanic and Spanish speaking population in Fairmont City, Illinois. Fairmont City is 80% Hispanic and the Fairmont City Library Center is committed. They hire from the community. They speak and provide services in the language of the community.

Only 10 miles from St. Louis, Fairmont City is home for a small population of 2,381 with an average annual household income of around $50k according to 2020 census data. Why would this small migrant town, with a poverty rate of 26.98% want to pay for something they’ve never had nor anticipated they’d really need? After all, when it came down to things of priority for this community, especially during the pandemic, a library did not top their list. Service providers and aid organizations reported food as first, then utility, rent, funeral assistance and mortgage assistance in that order. One bill that families consistently paid for, sometimes before they’d buy food was the phone bill. During COVID their smart-phones, tablets, computers, smart-TVs and streaming services were their connection to their jobs, teachers and medical providers.

Throughout the pandemic, when everything was heavily reliant on Internet and Wi-Fi, Fairmont City residents struggled to connect. In order to attend classes, attend meetings, access healthcare or telehealth, to work or even to catch the latest Netflix season of their favorite shows; they needed reliable and affordable internet that wasn’t available. Many families only had a handheld device, usually a telephone, and would need to take it with them to work. If the device stayed at home and there were several children, how would they share that single device? The library learned that students didn’t have computers at home. They weren’t attending their online classes. Katie began what took an advocacy and 8-year pursuit to obtain affordable and reliable internet. Eventually, they got it! And when they had to be closed and all they could offer the community was free Wi-Fi service outside of the building, they kept offering services.

Some Fairmont City families had challenges with credit scores, filing taxes and social security. Many were not using banking systems. People were losing percentages of their paychecks to predatory lenders and check cashing services. The library listened and responded with financial literacy through a partnership with a bank. Katie has secured partnerships with other organizations and the community in Fairmont City is advancing and meeting goals.

Fairmont City probably couldn’t imagine life without their library now and Katie is still excited to rise to the challenge every day. Libraries are gateways to knowledge and culture. They play a fundamental role in society. They are a place for personal growth and reinvention as well as a place for help to navigate this world in the information age. Libraries are a gathering place for civic and cultural engagement and a trusted place for preserving culture. For Katie Heaton and her Fairmont City library patrons, it is so much more.

Need a boost to your ideas around positive community change and personal impact? This episode with Katie Heaton is a great place to start.

Things to know in this episode:
Fairmont City Library Center
4444 Collinsville Road
Fairmont City, IL 62201
618-482-3966
Learn more at https://mvld.org/fairmont_info

Fairmont City
City Hall Annex
2568 N 41st St, Ste C
Fairmont City, Illinois 62201
(618) 274-6306
info@fairmontcityil.com
Learn more at fairmontcityil.com

Mississippi Valley Library District
Learn more at mvld.org
For all inquires, contact: kylaw@mvld.org

President/Mayor
Michael Suarez
(618) 274-6306
msuarez@fairmontcityil.com

The Latino Roundtable Southwestern Illinois
The Latino Roundtable Southwestern Illinois is a group of community organizations, businesses, colleges, universities and agencies unified in purpose to develop and expand resources of social services to the Latino community in St. Louis Metro East area.
thelatinoroundtable@gmail.com
(618) 482-3966

The Hispanic Star
The Hispanic Star is a platform to advance Hispanics in the U.S.
Email: info@hispanicstar.org
Learn more at hispanicstar.org

PCs for People
PCs for People is a national nonprofit social enterprise working to get low-cost quality computers and internet into the homes of individuals, families, and nonprofits with low income. By recycling and then refurbishing computers, PCs for People provides a valuable service to businesses, families, and the planet by keeping computers out of landfills and repurposing them to advance digital inclusion.
Address:  100 Florida Ave., Belleville, IL 62221
Phone:  618-215-3787
Email:  belleville@pcsforpeople.com
Learn more at pcsforpeople.org