Owner Amy Smith exo roast Coffee has worked for years to create a space where Tucson’s many cultures can be celebrated.

Smith moved to Tucson from Oregon 20 years ago and completed a master’s degree in education. Since then, she’s gone on to help launch her Exo Roast, which began as a humble roaster in 2009 and opened its doors not only as a café, but as an advocate for education and language in 2012. I blended into the community.

For many years, she taught ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Pima Community College and ran an educational space through Exo Roast, which hosts language classes.

“For the last five years, I’ve been hosting some form of Spanish conversation session or class,” Smith said of Exo.

Sessions were put on hiatus thanks to the pandemic, but recently resumed, and for the past few months Cafecito has taken over the 196 W. Simpson St. location for a few hours each month.

“I want to reach out to people who feel marginalized by speaking Spanish or by speaking English,” Smith said. I would like to create an environment where you can share , and make it possible to share in this place.”

Smith volunteers Iscaciter Refugee Network Her relationship with Iskashitaa founder Barbara Eiswerth led to a collaboration between the two organizations.

A few months ago, Iskashitaa Refugee Network intern Chris Destiche went to one of Exo’s bilingual cafésitos in hopes of practicing his Spanish. He sat in Smith’s sessions, laughing with friends and talking about food with strangers, realizing that it could be what Iscasiter worked on programming.

He took the idea of ​​Cafecitos to Eiswerth and agreed that Destiche would hold a Tuesday session in Iskashitaa’s new office.

“Amy[Smith]wanted to expand cafecitos, but we just couldn’t afford it,” says Destiche. “The connection between Iscaciter and Exo was a natural progression, and now we do it in our office as well.”

So far, Tuesday’s session has included refugees, volunteers and Iscasite interns, but anyone in the community who wants a little cafeteria, donuts and oranges and wants to improve their language skills. Anyone can participate.

Destiche is a graduate student at the University of Arizona with a Master of Science in Development Practice. This is basically a “systematic way to make the world a better place,” he said.

“Ideally, how to improve the living standards of those who are not given the same opportunities,” he said.

He is working on his master’s degree with the help of a scholarship he received through the Peace Corps. This entails completing his 10-hour community service at Iscaciter, which includes a garden arts program, bilingual cafésitos, and other work throughout the week.

For Cafecito, he typically creates lesson plans that include fun ice breakers, followed by interactive activities that help Spanish and English learners bounce off of each other.

“You can do the exercises in your workbook, but it’s like pulling teeth, so I try to make it fun,” Destiche said. “It can be nerve-wracking to get started, so before my first class, I shared my experience living in Guatemala for two years in the Peace Corps. It seems to have helped.”

And little by little, Smith’s big dream is coming true.

Smith has seen how equally Spanish and English are used in the city and how important it is for people to have a good understanding of both. For people, they communicate with a wider variety of people than most people and find both languages ​​useful in their daily lives.

“Hopefully this will continue to grow,” Smith said. “I’m excited to see more places host this type of event. Instead of trivia nights, we might have Spanish and English cafésitos.”

Bilingual Cafecito will be held on Tuesdays from 10 am to noon at the Iscaciter Office at 3736 E. 2nd Street, St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church.

For those who prefer evening sessions, Smith hopes to start soon with bilingual “Mescalitos” once a month on Wednesdays.

For more information, see: facebook.com/ExoCoffee and iskashitaa.org.