Two Issaquah women have launched a new Spanish language magazine to keep Hispanic families in touch with news in the local community.

Voz de la Comunidad — which translates to “Voice of the Community” — will be published on a bimonthly basis and feature news about the Issaquah School District and community organizations, as well as tips for healthful eating and green living.

Margarita Leas and Marisol Visser distributed the first issue of Voz to schools and community hubs by hand Monday morning.

Leas, originally from Colombia, and Visser, from Mexico, are both parents of children enrolled in Issaquah Valley Elementary School, one of the district campuses with the highest percentage of Hispanic students. Districtwide, Hispanics made up more than 21 percent of students in Issaquah schools in October 2013, according to demographic reports from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Leas and Visser said they worried that a significant number of these students’ parents were being isolated from important information — by virtue of not speaking English natively or by coming from a culture with less parent involvement in schools. Working as volunteers in Issaquah Valley, they noticed how many parents needed translation assistance.

“When we volunteered, we heard one instance of a mother who couldn’t go to her son’s graduation because she didn’t know about it,” Visser said.

“There are people in our community who don’t feel like they’re part of the community because of this barrier,” Leas said.

In March, they began formulating a plan for a publication that would translate important district news into Spanish and provide original Spanish-language content on community programs and people. After hearing the pitch, the Issaquah Schools Foundation provided funding for the printing and editing of the magazine.

Within its 16 pages, the first issue of Voz provided an overview of six Issaquah schools, the local county library, a guide to recycling and the details of community events like Salmon Days and ArtWalk. Additionally, Visser, a health coach professionally, included an article on healthy eating, while the author Nora Giron-Dolce contributed a short children’s story about Hispanic siblings adjusting to a new environment. The final page is dedicated to an interview with Issaquah Valley reading assistant Sandra C. Floyd, a woman Visser said has repeatedly gone beyond the call of her job to help families with translation assistance. It’s titled “Angels come from Honduras, too.”

“It’s our way to create community by recognizing its members,” Visser said. “If there’s no community, who’s going to recognize her?”

The project is a lot of work done on their own time, with incidentals like gas for delivery of issues handled out of pocket. Future advertising may cover those costs, but in the meantime Visser and Leas said they’re glad to be a connection between Issaquah’s Spanish speakers and the larger community. And both women said they hope other growing immigrant groups, like the Asian-Indian community, might see Voz as a model to adopt in their own languages.

“We need to be a bridge,” Visser said.