Mar Valdecantos
Mar Valdecantos is a writer, translator, artist, community organizer. She serves as chair of Northfield Human Rights Commission, a member of Northfield Affordable Housing Task Force and a radio host for “El Super Barrio,” a local radio program produced for the Latino community. She has also help create a nonprofit called Mercado Local, which is where immigrant vendors operate profitable businesses within a nonprofit market. They can proudly tell their families they own a store in Northfield – more than 20 entrepreneurs. For immigrants, owning a business is part of the American Dream: building prosperity, stability and equity.
Valdecantos is the executive director of Neighborhoods United/Barrios Unidos, a local organization dedicated to increasing the visibility and empowerment of Northfield’s immigrant community. She has worked to build bridges between recent arrivals and the larger Northfield community and on the Municipal ID program, among other collaborative work.
Valdecantos, a trained sociologist, accepted the Northfield Rotary Club’s Good Neighbor award in 2019. Originally from Madrid, she calls Minnesota home for more than 20 years.
(Biography adapted from Northfield news and Northfield Rotary Club)
Image by Northfield News