Community

This year marks 40 years that El Concilio (Counsel for the Spanish Speaking) has helped tens of thousands of people every year with programs such as its legal services.

As more Latinos call San Joaquin County home, there is an increasing need for such services. More than 35 percent of the county population is Latino, and that number is expected to reach nearly 50 percent by 2050, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and California Department of Finance.

The nonprofit group, started in 1968 by the human services Cursillo movement group from Catholic Charities, has more than a dozen programs, many of them intended for Latinos. They include child care centers for the children of migrant workers, free and low-cost health insurance enrollment, mental health services, English classes and immigration services.”*

Gorgeous weather, large crowds and a fun-filled day of activities greeted attendees of Fiesta Atlanta ‘08, Atlanta’s largest outdoor Cinco de Mayo celebration held on Sunday, May 4th in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The approximately 45,000 attendees enjoyed Hispanic food, live music by national and local artists, arts and crafts, a live soccer tournament, and various sampling booths, making it one of the largest crowds assembled at Centennial Olympic Park since the 1996 Summer Olympics.

“Fiesta Atlanta ‘08 was a tremendous success,” said Ralph E. Herrera, President of Lanza Group, LLC. “An event like this isn’t possible without our many sponsors; our thanks go out to Bud Light, AT&T, State Farm, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Viva and El Patron Radio, Monster Energy Drink, Atlanta Latino, Hyatt Hotels of Atlanta, MARTA and the many others who supported Fiesta Atlanta. We also want to thank all the musical artists who participated and all of the many people who joined us celebrating Cinco de Mayo in the heart of Atlanta… this year’s attendance was diverse and a true reflection of present-day Atlanta! I was proud to see how many volunteers and supporters were present throughout our week long series of events. We are looking forward to expanding our successful track record of events with the inaugural Fiesta Georgia in September and again with Fiesta Atlanta ‘09!”

In addition to the food, art and music, this year’s event also featured a Soccer Challenge with 16 teams competing. The winning team, Alianza Soccer Club, defeated Boca Juniors with a final score of 6-1. The Soccer Challenge was sponsored by: Mundo Hispanico, El Pollo Loco, Azteca America TV, O’Reilly Auto Parts, and POWERade.

“Fiesta Atlanta, only in its second year, is amazing,” said Teresa Callava, Director Sales & Marketing for the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana. “It was truly impressive to see the organization, the large attendance, the mix of attendees including a large percentage of non-Hispanic festival-goers, the well-balanced flow of activities and the large amount of sponsors that participated in your event.”

For more information about Fiesta Atlanta ‘08 and ‘09, contact Caroline Elisabeth Peters at (404) 350-0200 or at cpeters@lanzagroup.com. You can also visit www.fiestaatlanta.com. Fiesta Atlanta is a Lanza Group, LLC production.

Lanza Group, LLC is Atlanta’s premier full-service Hispanic Market Advertising and Public Relations firm specializing in the growing US Hispanic market. The Lanza Group provides a full-line of bilingual & bicultural services.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Caroline Elisabeth Peters
(404) 350-0200
cpeters@lanzagroup.com”

On the streets of some Latino communities on Long Island yesterday, news of Suffolk County’s bill targeting undocumented workers set off a wave of wild rumors that federal immigration agents were about to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Many people were misinterpreting Spanish-language news reports about the bill, believing it signaled a start to a round of raids, said Sister Margaret Smyth, head of the Catholic Church’s Hispanic Apostolate on the North Fork.”*

After 25 years of assistance to the Metro area’s Latino community, El Programa Hispano, a leading social service organization, has moved to a larger Gresham facility and is expanding its efforts.

The mission of the nonprofit, which is part of Catholic Charities, is to increase self-sufficiency among Latinos. The bilingual and bicultural services it provides include advocacy, domestic violence and sexual assault assistance, mental health and addiction treatment and counseling, educational support for youth and adults, gang prevention, anti-poverty services, skill building and outreach to elderly Latinos.”*

St. Bridget Catholic Church is a place for many of Postville’s Hispanic community to to catch their breath… to cry behind closed doors… and for illegal immigrants, like Eduardo Melendez, to hide from the law.

He says, in Spanish, “They grabbed us by the hair and said, ‘Hurry. Walk.’ Other workers were lying on the floor. Many were in handcuffs.”

Somehow, Melendez and his cousin escaped ICE agents during the raid at Agriprocessors. But eight of their family members, including Melendez’ brother, didn’t make it out. He says the church is now his only option.”*

Carlos Espinosa is the Director of Golf for the City of McAllen. The face of golf in the Rio Grande Valley for the last 20-plus years, Espinosa is a graduate of the University of Houston, which has produced golfers such as Fred Couples and Steve Elkington. Espinosa was an All-Southwest Conference selection in 1985 and helped the Cougars win the NCAA title before turning professional in 1986. Espinosa earned over $1 million dollars and won 23 Mexican PGA Tour events. He also qualified for the 1993 U.S. Open and was a member of Mexico’s World Cup teams in 1988, ‘90 and ‘92.

Espinosa has been the director of golf for the City of McAllen since May 12, 1999. He is based at Palm View Golf Course in McAllen, which will host this week’s Jalapeño Duramed FUTURES Tour Golf Classic.”*

Called the Board of Early Education and Care, the 13-member group will be charged with the coordination and consolidation of a range of education and human services focused on youth.

Isaza, who is in the process of moving to Holyoke, is the senior program officer and manager for grant-making initiatives at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts in Springfield, and is the second Western Massachusetts resident named to the board.”*

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Like her, many Mexican nationals have found traveling to the consulates in New York and Philadelphia too costly and time-consuming, especially for the hundreds of laborers in Lakewood whose daily wages depend on their steady presence on the Clifton Avenue street corners. An appointment with the New York consulate can take about six to eight months to make. And transportation to Philadelphia’s consulate can cost as much as $200 on top of the application fee.

Because of these obstacles, on Tuesday, the consulate came to people in Lakewood. Hearing of its arrival through Spanish-language newspapers and Hispanic advocacy groups, several Mexicans camped out the night before, awaking in the morning to be the first in what would be a line of several hundred at St. Anthony Claret church.”*

The Jassos exemplify the rapidly changing demographics in rural West Texas. While 33 rural counties in the South Plains/Panhandle region lost population during the first six years of this decade, in some, including Crosby County, the Hispanic population is growing and it’s now the majority group.

For instance, Crosby County lost 7.4 percent of its population during the period, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Yet, Hispanics became the largest ethnic group in the county and now narrowly outnumber Anglos, 3,175 to 2,946.

“This region is changing before our eyes,” said Heflin, whose House District 85 includes the largest percentage of Spanish-surnamed residents in all of the six House districts in the Panhandle and the South Plains. “Many people have left … so if it wasn’t for Hispanics many more West Texas communities would be like ghost towns.”"*

The race for the Urban County Council District 11 seat has turned into a referendum on immigration.

A districtwide forum Monday night reflected the differences on the issue between incumbent Peggy Henson and challengers Ellen Hollon and Logan Weiler III.

Henson opposes seeking training for police to enforce federal immigration laws in a program called 287(g). Hollon and Weiler support seeking the training.”*

Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge says there’s concern the kosher meatpacking plant in Postville will close. “At this point I think it’s just very uncertain,” Judge says. “As the governor said…we do not in any way at any time condone illegal activities and if that was going on in that plant, it needs to be stopped. On the other hand we also have families there that will be impacted, who are lawful residents who today do not have a place to go to work so that is a concern and we’ll continue to try to work through it.”

The governor asked Judge to head the state response to Monday’s federal raid at Agriprocessors in Postville where nearly 400 people were arrested on immigration and identity theft charges. Agriprocessors is the largest employer in Postville. “It’s such an interesting, diverse community in Iowa. Of course, it has been for a long time. They’ve even had books written about it,” Judge says, “but Postville always found ways to make things work and I’m sure that resiliency will be there and they’ll do that again.”"*

Postville was already a small town of 2,300 before the raid. Now city officials say many people are fleeing in fear, not to mention the near 400 plant workers detained.

More than a third of the workers at the city’s largest business are gone. Without those workers many fear Agriprocessors will shut down. If that happens, the mayor says 95% of the shops here will dry up. Petrona Garcia’s convenience store is the only Hispanic business in town with customers the day after the raid.

“All the shops are closed. Not one is open. No one even comes to them,” said Petrona Garcia, business owner.”*

A two-year study released Tuesday shows older Arkansans, the young and Hispanics making up larger parts of the state population 12 years from now.

The Arkansas 2020 study, released by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, projects demographic changes over a 20-year period, including shifts in age, gender, race, ethnic, rural and urban populations.

Click here (Word doc) to see a summary of the study. Click here (PDF) to see the full study.”*

Prince William County’s top elected official asserted last month that an exodus of immigrant families after the county’s crackdown on illegal immigration is saving the school system millions of dollars because it has to educate fewer students who are learning English as a second language.

But Prince William school officials say that the departure of nearly 760 students this school year from the English for Speakers of Other Languages program has not brought a financial windfall to the school system, contrary to an estimate of $6 million in savings cited by Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large).”*

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School officials in early April were served with a 21-point subpoena from Iowa Division of Labor Services seeking the records of Postville middle and high school students and information about some school employees, the district’s superintendent said.

The subpoena required school officials to provide:

- Names of all current students and students between 2005 and 2007, their ages, addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers and Social Security numbers.”*

Waterloo, Ia. - Iowa workers without legal documentation went into hiding Monday and rushed to fill out paperwork for the care of their children and property in anticipation of being arrested, lawyers and immigration rights workers said.

Rumors were flying in Waterloo, Storm Lake, Marshalltown and elsewhere that other raids would occur or that they had already taken place.

All appeared to be unfounded.”*

Twelve hours later, Hispanic businesses in downtown Postville were shuttered. Locks held the door at El Sabor Latino grocery store and restaurant. Bowls of chips and salsa were abandoned along with a half-empty bottle of Coke.
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At the Postville Bakery and Restaurant - which also goes by La Panederia y Pasteleria - a sign in the doorway said, “We will be closed at 11 a.m. today.”

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant scattered the Hispanics of Postville. About 400 found their way to St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, waiting for information. Some filled out G-28 forms that allow a lawyer to represent their detained children or minors in their care.”*

The Agriprocessors meatpacking plant appears to be back in business this morning, less than 12 hours after federal and state agents finished an immigration raid there.

More than 100 cars were in the employee parking lot this morning. A company official standing near the entrance was talking on the phone with someone about “today’s chicken kill.””*

Workers in the country illegally have likely been at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville for almost 20 years, said author Stephen Bloom, a journalism professor at the University of Iowa.

“This is the worst-kept secret in Iowa,” said Bloom, who in 2000 published a book chronicling how Agriprocessors’ Hasidic culture affected Postville, a town in northeast Iowa.

The only “thing you need to work at the plant was a strong back and a strong stomach” and a Social Security number, whether it was valid or not, he said.

“Iowans don’t want to do this kind of work for minimum wage and few or no benefits,” he said.”*

A top official at the Agriprocessors Inc. plant in Postville that was the subject of an immigration enforcement action Monday is an active Republican campaign contributor, records show.

Sholom Rubashkin, whose family owns the company, since 2000 has made $23,750 in federal campaign contributions, according to Federal Election Commission records.”*

Agriprocessors Inc. opened in Postville nearly 20 years ago, bringing with it a promise of jobs and a culture that changed the small, rural northeast Iowa town.

Aaron Rubashkin came from New York to open what has become the nation’s largest kosher meatpacking plant.

Shutting down production at the plant will have a significant impact on the kosher meat sales, said Menachem Lubinsky, chief executive of Luicom Marketing and editor of KosherToday.”*

Postville became a melting pot in 1987 with the arrival of 200 Hasidic Jews who turned a defunct meatpacking plant into a kosher slaughterhouse.

Business boomed at the plant, reviving the economy while pitting the newcomers against the Lutheran community.

Stephen Bloom detailed the struggle in his 2000 book, “Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America.” When the slaughterhouse first opened, local workers were given jobs. Then in the early 1990s, Eastern European workers came to work in the plant.”*

The Aurora Police Department is seeking assistance from the public to identify the suspects responsible for up to ten armed robberies of Hispanic businesses in Aurora since March 11, 2008.

Detective Shannon Lucy announced Monday a reward has been increased to $2,000 since originally alerting the public of the pattern robberies March 24th. Police reported five similar robberies at that time, the number has now doubled, according to Lucy, with one business being hit twice.”*