New Petaluma nonprofit building English-Spanish bridges

Cafe Puente brings together native Spanish speakers and learners, providing a conversational setting that allows the culture to be celebrated.|

At a Spanish language poetry reading that Emilie Thomas organized in Petaluma recently, a woman proudly read a work by Pablo Neruda, who is from her native Chile. Afterward, the woman told Thomas that she has lived in Petaluma for 25 years, and no one has ever shown interest in her homeland.

“She said, ‘This is what I have been craving,’” Thomas said. “Our Latino friends, they light up when you value them for who they are.”

The exchange encapsulated the purpose of Cafe Puente, a new nonprofit that Thomas founded in Petaluma to bring together Spanish learners with native Spanish speakers. The benefits are twofold - Spanish students get a chance to practice in a conversational setting with patient native speakers, and the native speakers have a venue to celebrate their culture.

“It’s an opportunity to bring people together,” Thomas said. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Thomas started Cafe Puente (Spanish for “bridge”) as the nonprofit arm of Marin Spanish School, which offers private Spanish classes in Mill Valley and recently opened a Petaluma location. The “social impact cafe” so far has hosted two pop-up events, including the poetry night March 9 at Keller Street CoWork.

About 70 people showed up for the event that was solely in Spanish, said Thomas, who studied in Spain and Chile and has lived in Petaluma for three years.

“It was really a special and unique happening,” she said. “A huge breadth of Latino cultures were represented, and a wide array of levels of Spanish. I was blown away.”

Thomas and her volunteer leadership team of students Dalya Amador and Stephanie Sosa recruit the Spanish language volunteers from among the many Latino cultures represented in Petaluma, including Mexicans, Hondurans, Colombians, Salvadorians, Peruvians and Guatemalans. The volunteer hosts are trained to facilitate conversations in any level of Spanish.

The non-native speakers are typically students of the Marin Spanish School, which includes high school students and adults, although anyone is welcome at the events.

The next event will be announced at www.cafepuente.org. In the meantime, Thomas has bigger dreams for the nonprofit, including an actual cafe with a physical space in downtown Petaluma.

Cafe Puente is hoping to move into a storefront on Petaluma Boulevard next to Brewsters by next spring. Thomas envisions a coffee shop in the front and Spanish language school in the back.

In the coffee shop, the menus would be in Spanish, and the baristas would only speak Spanish, unless asked to translate. It would be a place where people could get a cup of Colombian coffee, eat an Argentine empanada, and practice Spanish in a relaxed setting.

“I want to make Spanish come to life,” Thomas said. “That’s my dream.”

Thomas, who has degrees in Spanish and international relations, worked as a legal interpreter on immigration cases. She is getting a master’s degree in business in order to better manage the cafe.

Besides helping non-native speakers hone their Spanish, Thomas hopes the cafe will serve as a hub for the local Latino community, which represents 38 percent of Petaluma, but still lacks an epicenter.

“My vision is to start a trend for more placed geared toward the Latino community in downtown Petaluma,” she said. “I’m passionate about building community.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)

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