LULAC of Odessa & Hispanic Residents Hold Informal Meeting with Mayor Cal Hendrick
(David Gomez, News Anchor-DRB Media Communications Digital News)
Odessa, Texas/March 13, 2026-Members of the League of United Latin American Citizens of Odessa, along with Hispanic residents from the south side of Odessa, recently held an informal community meeting with Odessa Mayor Cal Hendrick. Danny Barrera has the story.
The purpose of the discussion was to address several concerns impacting the local Hispanic community. Topics included voter participation, support for Hispanic-owned businesses, and the need for aesthetic and infrastructure improvements in neighborhoods across south Odessa. Community members used the meeting as an opportunity to openly share concerns and ideas while engaging directly with city leadership about ways to strengthen and improve these areas.
(Cal Hendrick, Mayor-City of Odessa, Texas)
“Communities in Odessa, although not always unified. We always want to listen. And this community has been probably underrepresented in the past. So, we’re trying to be sensitive to what can we do to help you have a better community to, to, to engage more? We talked about registering voters. We talked about new businesses. We’ve talked about infill housing in South Odessa to to bring more communities and neighborhoods. And people want to know, what can we do to help? What can we do to make our community better.”
Cal Hendrick encouraged attendees to take a proactive approach by identifying the needs within their communities and developing a clear plan to address those concerns. He advised that the plan should outline specific issues, proposed solutions, and possible funding sources. Hendrick also recommended that residents schedule follow-up meetings with their respective district council member, the city manager, or other city leaders to discuss the plan and work toward potential implementation.
(Carol Uranga, L.U.L.A.C-Odessa, Texas)
“We need a plan. We need to agree on the plan, and we need to devise something that will move forward with them. But before we even approach them, we need to know what we want. We need to know what the community needs. We need to know how people feel about it, because it can’t be just one group. It’s going to have to be the entire community as much as possible. You know that he was telling us that two percent of voters went out to vote two percent. That means ninety eight people stayed home, ninety-eight people that could have made a difference. But they, you know, they didn’t vote. So, what we’re interested through LULAC is to get out more registered voters, registered more voters, and then get them out to vote. And what is that going to take? That’s going to take all of us talking to all our neighbors and convincing them that it makes a difference to go out to vote because they sit on city council. Their vote is what’s going to change everything for us.”
The Empowerment Center on the south side of Odessa provides several services to assist individuals and families with low to moderate incomes. The center offers a clothing closet, food pantry, access to helpful literature, and tax preparation services aimed at supporting those who may need additional financial and community resources.
(Alejandra Salazar, Empowerment Center-126 S. Dixie Blvd., Odessa, Texas)
“Estamos en el Centro de Empoderamiento, donde empoderamos a a jóvenes y adultos, donde les brindamos información sobre sus impuestos, donde los ayudamos, donde no les robamos. También les damos asesoría en finanzas, en emprendimientos de cómo empezar tu emprendimiento y sobre todo te informamos porque con información no existe el miedo.”
For DRB Media Communications Digital News, Danny Barrera
(David Gomez, News Anchor-DRB Media Communications Digital News)
Follow us on Facebook, X formally, Twitter and Instagram. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and visit drbmediacommunicationsdigitalnews.tv. I’m David Gomez. Thanks for watching.
