El Eco de Virginia was born in the spring of 1991 as the outcome of a vibrant community that was in desperate need to better communicate and unify itself. At this time, another leader in the community, the late Dr. José Simón, a Spanish professor at Old Dominion University started a Latin-American Cultural Club with tremendous success. He brought high-caliber music groups directly from Spain and Puerto Rico; in essence, it was these groups that would come to set the standards for any future community endeavors. This was the path of endurance El Eco de Virginia followed, providing a quality publication with an educational emphasis on a vast array of topics.
In 1991, our Hispanic community was mainly filled with Puerto Rican descent, due largely in part to the Hampton Roads Naval Base. The base itself was at the time and still is the largest of its kind in the world. As time passed, we have seen the increase of the Hispanic population supplemented by different nationalities, including people from Panama, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, El Salvador, and others. Indeed, in addition, Hispanics of various nationalities also emigrated out of Hampton Roads but in small numbers. Our mission was, as was from our original founding, and still is, to inform and educate our community. With this broad mandate, we try to cover as many topics as our changing community demands, in order to allow the pursuit of a better life in this great country: The United States of America.
El Eco de Virginia is a weekly publication produced free to our readers. It has a regional distribution covering Northern Virginia, Richmond, Williamsburg, Hampton Roads, and Elizabeth City (North Carolina). Now with the Web, we can reach other segments of our population that perhaps are not so mobile, as well as Hispanics beyond our original scope of reach. Thanks to technology, we can now continue keep up with the fast growth of Hispanics and meet future challenges…
