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Storyline

Latino migration to Carrboro and Chapel Hill

The arrival of Latin American families from the 1990s, the neighborhoods and workplaces that received them, and the institutions they built.

In briefLatin American families began arriving in Carrboro and Chapel Hill in the 1990s: the neighborhoods and workplaces that received them, and the institutions they built.

Read the 30 eventsAll storylines

8 works about Latino migration to Carrboro and Chapel Hill are indexed here.

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In the chronology

Events in this storyline, in date order. See these 30 dated events in the chronology →

  1. 1990 census counts the Hispanic-origin population of Orange County, Carrboro and Chapel Hill The 1990 census counted 1,279 persons of Hispanic origin in Orange County (1.4% of 93,851), 199 in Carrboro (1.7% of 11,553) and 607 in Chapel Hill (1.6% of 38,719). Census Bureau report 1990 CP-1-35, Table 5 (counties) and Table 6 (places).U.S. Census Bureau: 1990 Census of Population, General Population Characteristics, North Carolina (1990 CP-1-35)
  2. El Centro Latino serves Latino residents from Carrboro El Centro Latino, incorporated in 1999, provided educational and social services, advocacy and cultural activities for Latinos in and around Orange County from Carrboro. It closed the day before Thanksgiving 2009 after funding losses and eight executive directors in ten years.UNC Graduate School: El Centro Latino y más
  3. 2000 census counts the Hispanic or Latino population of Orange County, Carrboro and Chapel Hill The 2000 census counted 5,273 Hispanic or Latino residents in Orange County (4.5% of 118,227), 2,062 in Carrboro (12.3% of 16,782) and 1,506 in the Orange County part of Chapel Hill (3.2% of 46,798). Census Bureau report PHC-1-35, Table 3.U.S. Census Bureau: 2000 Census of Population and Housing, Summary Population and Housing Characteristics, North Carolina (PHC-1-35)
  4. Holy Family Catholic Church in Hillsborough holds its first Spanish Mass Holy Family parish in Hillsborough, which had grown from about 107 families in 1986 to about 250 in 1999, celebrated its first Spanish Mass in 2003 as Latino members joined the congregation. By 2012 the parish counted about 680 families and held a Sunday Spanish Mass alongside its three other services.Search the index · News of Orange County: Catholic church celebrates 25 years
  5. El Futuro runs a bilingual mental health clinic in Carrboro El Futuro, a Latino mental health nonprofit started by psychiatrist Luke Smith, opened a Carrboro office in 2005, a year after its Siler City clinic. The Carrboro location closed in 2015 for lack of funding.INDY Week: El Futuro (Matt Saldaña, November 21, 2007)
  6. UNC's Latino Migration Project begins the New Roots/Nuevas Raíces oral history initiative The Latino Migration Project at UNC-Chapel Hill began New Roots/Nuevas Raíces to record stories of Latino migration, settlement and integration in North Carolina, with interviews archived through the Southern Oral History Program and University Libraries. The project has collected over 200 interviews, adding about 20 a year. People: Hannah GillNew Roots/Nuevas Raíces (UNC Libraries): About
  7. Carrboro aldermen bar police arrests based solely on civil immigration violations The Carrboro Board of Aldermen unanimously adopted Resolution No. 123/2005-06, making it police policy not to arrest or take into custody anyone solely because they have or may have committed a civil immigration violation. The board had asked the town attorney to research the question on April 18, 2006. People: Mark Chilton, Jacquelyn Gist, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Joal Hall Broun, Alex ZaffronTown of Carrboro (Mount Holyoke IDA repository copy): Board of Aldermen minutes, May 16, 2006
  8. Hannah Gill founds the Latino Migration Project at UNC Gill started the Latino Migration Project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to improve public understanding of Latin American migration to North Carolina. The project describes itself as an initiative of INSITE Latin America and the Caribbean.Search the index · Chapelboro: Latino Migration Project Selects Chapel Hill for Partnership
  9. Carrboro adopts an anti-lingering ordinance at the Jones Ferry and Davie roads day-labor corner After neighbors complained about conditions at the corner where day laborers, many of them Latino, waited for contractors, the Board of Aldermen approved an ordinance barring waiting at the intersection of Jones Ferry and Davie roads from 11 a.m. to 5 a.m. In September 2007 the board had also approved an action plan and a motion to create a designated space for day laborers. People: Mark ChiltonThe Carrboro Citizen: Carrboro to revisit anti-lingering (June 30, 2011)
  10. Sheriff Pendergrass defends Orange County's enrollment in Secure Communities At a county commissioners' meeting, Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass explained his decision to enroll the Orange County jail in the federal Secure Communities pilot, which checks the fingerprints of people booked into jail against federal databases including immigration records. Commissioners, who had resolved in 2007 not to join the 287(g) program, raised concerns but took no action.Search the index · OrangePolitics: Orange County and the Secure Communities Program
  11. Cliff's Meat Market is honored for serving Carrboro's Spanish-speaking customers Cliff's Meat Market in Carrboro received Orange County's Pauli Murray Award in the business category; owner Cliff Collins was nominated for reaching out to the Spanish-speaking community. The butcher shop, open since 1973, had hired Latino staff as Spanish-speaking customers began asking for cuts in Spanish.Search the index · The Carrboro Citizen: Timeline: 2009
  12. 2010 census counts the Hispanic or Latino population of Orange County, Carrboro and Chapel Hill The 2010 census counted 11,017 Hispanic or Latino residents in Orange County, 2,603 in Chapel Hill and 1,921 in Carrboro, as compiled in the NC Office of State Budget and Management's LINC Census Population dataset.NC Office of State Budget and Management (LINC): Census Population dataset, Orange County Hispanic or Latino Origin Population
Show all 30 dated events
  1. El Centro Hispano opens a Carrboro office El Centro Hispano, founded in Durham in 1992, added a Carrboro office in 2010 after El Centro Latino closed. It planned a resources office, legal and tax clinic, tutoring, ESL classes and an HIV prevention program at Carrboro Plaza on N.C. 54, beside a new Latino Community Credit Union branch.The Daily Tar Heel: Fiestas en la Calle showcases vibrant performances, highlights Latino community (August 27, 2024)
  2. UNC starts the Building Integrated Communities program The Latino Migration Project began Building Integrated Communities, which Gill co-founded, to help North Carolina local governments plan with immigrant and refugee residents. Each partner community works with the program for about two years.Search the index · UNC Global Affairs: Global Heel Profile: Hannah Gill and the Building Integrated Communities Program
  3. New Roots interview records the history of the Spanish Mass at St. Thomas More Luis Royo, coordinator of Hispanic ministries at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, told New Roots interviewer Kelsey Jost-Creegan that the parish's Spanish Mass went back almost twenty years. He said his coordinator post had existed for about ten years and that he was its fourth holder.New Roots/Nuevas Raíces (UNC Libraries): R-0632, Royo, Luis
  4. School Board converts Frank Porter Graham Elementary into a Spanish dual-language magnet school After a district report named serving students with limited English and closing the achievement gap as the main purposes of dual language, and after forums that included sessions for Spanish-speaking and Karen and Burmese families, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board approved converting Frank Porter Graham Elementary into a Spanish-English magnet school. It reopened as the district's first dual-language magnet on August 26, 2013, with more than 500 students.Search the index · CHCCS News: District announces Dual Language meetings and deadlines
  5. NEH funds public access to the New Roots oral history archive The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded UNC-Chapel Hill a Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant (PW-51527-14) to open public access to New Roots interviews through a bilingual digital archive. People: Hannah GillNational Endowment for the Humanities: Tune In Tuesdays: New Roots: Latino Oral Histories (August 30, 2016)
  6. Carrboro aldermen declare the town a welcoming community for immigrant children The Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a resolution declaring Carrboro a welcoming community for minors fleeing violence and affirming immigrant children's right to attend public school regardless of immigration status. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice and the ACLU of North Carolina helped develop it.Chapelboro: Carrboro Adopts Downtown Area Plan, Passes Resolution Supporting Immigrant Communities (November 20, 2025)
  7. Carrboro's Center for Employment and Leadership for day laborers opens El Centro Hispano, the Carrboro Day Laborer Task Force, Orange County Justice United and the Town of Carrboro opened a workers' center for day laborers at 201 W. Weaver St., which organizers called the first in North Carolina. The opening began with a march from the Jones Ferry and Davie roads corner and followed about ten years of planning. People: Lydia Lavelle, Randee Haven-O'DonnellNational Day Laborer Organizing Network: Carrboro Opens First Workers Center for Day Laborers in North Carolina
  8. New Roots launches its bilingual digital archive New Roots/Nuevas Raíces launched a Spanish and English website with more than 150 digitized interviews, including audio recordings, abstracts and full transcripts. UNC's University Libraries handled digitization, cataloging and preservation. People: Hannah GillSociety of American Archivists, Oral History Section: The New Roots/Nuevas Raíces Latino Oral History Initiative Launches Bilingual Digital Resources
  9. Chapel Hill is selected for a Building Integrated Communities partnership The Latino Migration Project chose Chapel Hill, along with Siler City, for two years of community planning support to help the town work with foreign-born residents. Town manager Roger Stancil said the town already had policies meant to make the community inclusive.Search the index · Chapelboro: Latino Migration Project Selects Chapel Hill for Partnership
  10. New Hope Elementary starts a Spanish dual-language program in Orange County Schools After a year and a half of planning, New Hope Elementary opened a 50-50 Spanish-English dual-language program for 48 kindergarten students at the start of the 2018-19 school year, taught on alternating days in English and Spanish. The principal described it as a way for Latino students to take pride in their heritage and keep the Spanish they use with their families.Search the index · News of Orange County: Dual language program comes to New Hope Elementary
  11. Chapel Hill adopts a Building Integrated Communities action plan Following the 2018 community assessment, the town produced a 34-point plan covering public transportation, relations with law enforcement, resident leadership, housing access and communication in other languages. The town went on to translate documents into Spanish, Mandarin, Karen and Burmese and to add interpretation at meetings.Search the index · Chapelboro: Chapel Hill's Building Integrated Communities Program: Helping Immigrants, Now With New Funds
  12. Chapel Hill adopts a Language Access Plan covering Karen and Burmese The Chapel Hill Town Council unanimously adopted a Language Access Plan in November 2019, following the 2018 Building Integrated Communities process in which immigrant and refugee residents named language access as a key need. The plan covered the town's leading non-English languages, Burmese, Karen, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.Chapelboro: Language Access Plan to Help Chapel Hill's Diverse Population (December 4, 2019) · Also: Chapel Hill Public Library: Language access
  13. 2020 census counts the Hispanic or Latino population of Orange County, Carrboro and Chapel Hill The 2020 census counted 15,812 Hispanic or Latino residents in Orange County, 4,734 in Chapel Hill and 2,723 in Carrboro, from the 2020 redistricting data as compiled in the NC Office of State Budget and Management's LINC database.NC Office of State Budget and Management (LINC): Census Population dataset, Orange County Hispanic or Latino Origin Population
  14. Orange County Commissioners adopt a countywide Language Access policy The Board of County Commissioners approved a policy requiring free interpretation and translation for residents with limited English across all county services, and directing each county department to keep a language access plan and train its staff.Search the index · Orange County, NC: Orange County Language Access Policy (BOCC Approved June 16, 2020)
  15. A Blue Cross NC Foundation grant expands Building Integrated Communities The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation awarded $1.55 million to the program, with further money to community partners, naming Gill as principal investigator. Chapel Hill received a separate three-year grant of $375,000 from the same foundation for its own immigrant and refugee work.Search the index · UNC Latino Migration Project: New funding boosts support of Building Integrated Communities program
  16. Latino residents press for Spanish-language mental health care at a Chapel Hill assembly At a public accountability assembly at St. Thomas More Catholic Church organized by Orange County Justice United and the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, residents called for more mental health services in Spanish. That month Alliance Health announced $500,000 for El Futuro's services and programs in Orange County.INDY Week: A New Community Mental Health Program Supports Latino Residents in Orange County
  17. Carrboro adopts a townwide Language Access Plan The Town Council adopted a Language Access Plan naming six community languages (Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Karen, Burmese and Arabic), with Spanish the most spoken. The plan was developed with UNC's Building Integrated Communities program and the Refugee Community Partnership.Town of Carrboro: Language Access
  18. Carrboro Town Council reaffirms support for immigrant communities and its 4th Amendment status The Town Council passed a resolution by council members Eliazar Posada-Orozco and Cristóbal Palmer condemning discriminatory actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and reaffirming Carrboro's status as a 4th Amendment town. The council had voted unanimously for that designation on May 20, 2025. People: Barbara FousheeTown of Carrboro: Carrboro This Week, Nov. 20, 2025

Places in this history

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows the 2 with a known location.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Indexed works

Related works found in catalogs and archives across North Carolina. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it.

The artist as a collaborator in the community : working with Latino youth in Carrboro, North Carolina

Almirall, Katie R. · 2007

Katie R. Almirall's senior honors thesis statement, written to accompany her exhibition in the Center Gallery of the ArtsCenter in Carrboro from April 2 to 28, 2007. Twenty one leaves with illustrations, describing collaborative art work with Latino young people in the town. Topics include community arts projects and Hispanic American youth in Carrboro.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Hispanic American youth -- North Carolina -- Carrboro.

UNC

Northern Orange Latino community, Orange County, North Carolina : an action-oriented community diagnosis : findings and next steps of action

2005

An action oriented community diagnosis of the Latino community in northern Orange County, dated the tenth of May 2005 and produced at Chapel Hill. It sets out findings on health status and socioeconomic conditions and closes with proposed next steps for action. Topics include community health services, health status and socioeconomic factors. A bibliography runs across pages 78 and 79.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

UNC

Undocumented immigrants and access to health care : the case of Hispanic women in Chapel Hill and Carrboro

Robbins, Patricia C. · 2005

Patricia C. Robbins looked at how undocumented Hispanic women in Chapel Hill and Carrboro reach medical care, in a 2005 paper of 56 leaves with a bibliography. It concerns medical care for Hispanic American women in the two towns. Of use to anyone tracing local public health and immigration work in the mid 2000s.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Hispanic American women -- Medical care -- North Carolina -- Carrboro.

UNC

The Latino community of Carrboro, Orange County, NC : an action-oriented community diagnosis : a participatory assessment of the Latino community of Carrboro

2003

Action oriented community diagnosis of the Latino community in Carrboro, completed in May 2003 by students in health behavior and health education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Fifty-two pages with 98 leaves, illustrations and forms. Topics include Hispanic Americans in Carrboro, public health, and the town's social and economic conditions in the twenty-first century.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Hispanic Americans -- North Carolina -- Carrboro.

UNC

Revealing the reflecting plates : how Chapel Hill lavaplatos identify themselves and others

Farb, Jessica · 2003

Jessica Farb's 2003 study of lavaplatos, the dishwashers in Chapel Hill restaurants, and of how these Latin American workers understand their own ethnic identity and that of the people around them. Topics include Latin American employment and ethnic identity in Chapel Hill and restaurant employees there. A student paper, with a bibliography on leaves 67 to 71.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Latin Americans -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill -- Ethnic identity.

UNC

Un nuevo pueblo : an ethnography of a Hispanic protestant community of faith

Armijo, Enrique · 2000

An ethnography of a Hispanic Protestant congregation, Iglesia Unida de Cristo in Chapel Hill, written by Enrique Armijo in 2000. The typescript runs one hundred twenty-one leaves with a bibliography at the end. Topics include Hispanic Americans, Latin Americans and immigrants in Chapel Hill along with the congregation itself.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Latin Americans -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC
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Creating spaces : building a Latino community in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Papa, Caroline S. · 1998

Caroline S. Papa's 1998 account of the growing Latino community in Chapel Hill, with attention to immigration to the town and to the Iglesia Unida de Cristo congregation. Fifty eight pages with illustrations and two unnumbered leaves, closing with a bibliography. Topics include Hispanic Americans, Latin Americans and immigrants in Chapel Hill at the end of the century.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Latin Americans -- North Carolina -- Chapel Hill.

UNC

Hispanic / Latino Community (Chapel Hill Historical Society vertical file)

Folder on the Hispanic and Latino community of Chapel Hill, not yet inventoried. From the Chapel Hill History series of the Chapel Hill Historical Society's vertical files.

Included because: Its title names this subject.

CH Historical Society

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Records of the time 47

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