This webinar examines the careers and accomplishments of Genoveva de Arteaga (1898-1991), Anita Vélez-Mitchell (1916-2015) and Tina Ramírez (b.1928) –three remarkable Puerto Rican artists that made important contributions in the fields of music, dance, theater and literature. This presentation, and its companion Centro digital exhibit, aim to bring visibility to the artistic and intellectual endeavors of these remarkable Puerto Rican women. The presenters will reflect on how the dynamics of gender and identity play an important part in the representation of women in Puerto Rican history. The webinar will also discuss how archival research and materials from Centro Collections enable a dialogue that recognizes the contributions of women artists and their inclusion in the master narratives of history.

Author: Dr. Noraliz Ruiz, Ethnomusicologist and member of Colectivo de Estudios Musicales de Puerto Rico

Commentator: Dr. Noel Allende Goitía, Independent Scholar and Researcher, and Associate Fellow in the Colectivo de Estudios Musicales de Puerto Rico

BIOS

Dr. Noraliz Ruiz,, Ethnomusicologist and member of Colectivo de Estudios Musicales de Puerto Rico 

Noraliz Ruiz holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology-Musicology from Kent State University. Her research focuses on the Puerto Rican lutes: cuatro, tiple and bordonúa; particularly in the continuity and change of the instruments’ tradition and performance practice. She has also conducted research about underground music scenes in Puerto Rico and the production of indie pop, electronic and new music on the island. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the popular music program of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. Noraliz is a member of the electronic indie band Balún, a co-founder of the children’s music group Acopladitos and an associate researcher of Colectivo de Estudios Musicales de Puerto Rico.   Contact: [email protected]

Dr. Noel Allende Goitía, Independent Scholar and Researcher, and Associate Fellow in the Colectivo de Estudios Musicales de Puerto Rico

Noel Allende-Goitía is an independent scholar and researcher. At the Metropolitan Campus of the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, he coordinated the Puerto Rican Music Studies and Research Center and the music graduate program. He has a B.M. in Voice from the Music Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and an M.A. in History from the University of Puerto Rico. He made a postgraduate study in Musicology at the Center of Studies and Development on Cuban Music (1992), in Cuba, with Zoila Gómez and graduated from Michigan State University with a Ph. D. in Music with a major in composition and a minor in ethnomusicology and a researcher fellow at the African Diaspora Research Project under the leadership of the late Dr. Ruth S. Hamilton. Allende-Goitía has published books in Puerto Rico music’s social and cultural history, music instruction and music historiography. His works in Music/Culture Social History have been presented at national and international conferences in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Spain, the United States, US Virgin Islands, Mexico, and Ghana.  Contact:  [email protected]

More on Anita Vélez Mitchell:

Website of the award-winning musical, “Temple of the Souls” 

https://www.templeofthesouls.com/

Poetry book written by Anita Vélez-Mitchell, her daughter Gloria Vando, and granddaughter Anika, Woven Voices. 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet-books/2012/04/woven-voices

Documentary film featuring Anita by filmmaker Claire Panke

https://lightyearsfilm.com/

Thursday, June 10, 2021 | 5:00 PM EST | 4:00 PM CST

Puerto Ricans who migrated to New York joined one of the largest concentrations of urban wage workers in the world. Most migrants were already familiar with the routines and conditions of wage work while others had to adjust to the challenges of a highly developed industrial city where both exploitation as well as opportunities for better wages abounded. Work, leisure, family life and politics consumed most of their energies, but in New York the complexity of urban, class, racial and ethnic contexts could be daunting and required a myriad of adjustments. The city offered opportunities for solidarity and new forms of organization and improvement as well as unpredictable risks and new problems. This exhibit reunites a series of blogs that will introduce many of the rich contexts in which Puerto Rican New Yorkers engaged with larger movements and struggles from the 1910s to the 1970s. The mosaic represented here includes only some of the stories.

Author: Aldo Lauria Santiago, Professor, Latino and Caribbean Studies and History Departments, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University

Commentator: Virginia Sanchez-Korrol, Professor Emerita, Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY

Bios

Aldo A. Lauria Santiago, Professor of Caribbean, Latin American and US Latino History, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ  

Aldo A. Lauria Santiago was born in Chicago and grew up in Puerto Rico. His mother was one of the first women from Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Ph.D. in Anthropology at Columbia and the University of Chicago. His dad came from the Italian American Bronx in the 1950s and discovered Puerto Rico; also became an anthropologist.  Dr. Lauria Santiago works as a Professor in the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies and the Department of History at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. At Rutgers University, Lauria Santiago had a joint appointment between the Department of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies and the Department of History, where he spent seven years as chair where he led the reconstruction of the department of what is now the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies.   He is a historian of Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latinos in the US. He specializes in peasant and working class history, revolution, ethnicity and race. He went to college at Princeton University and received his MA at NYU and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.  He trained as a Mexicanist at The University of Chicago but began his career as a historian of El Salvador. He has published books and articles on El Salvador and formed part of a group of historians that helped develop Central American historiography during the conflicted but revolutionary decade of the 1980s.  Since 2008 he turned to do research on the Puerto Rican community in New York. With Lorrin Thomas, he published Rethinking the Struggle for Puerto Rican Rights in 2018. His research, on which the Centro essays are based, will be published in two or three books, the first of which is under contract with the University of North Carolina Press and should be published in 2022.  Contact: [email protected]

Dr. Virginia Sanchez Korrol Professor Emerita, Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at Brooklyn College, CUNY
Virginia is Professor Emerita at the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, Brooklyn College, CUNY. Dr. Sanchez Korrol writes about the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. Among her extensive publications, she authored From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City, and co-edited Latinas in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia. Recipient of the Herbert H. Lehman Prize for Distinguished Contributions to New York History, 2020, she serves as historical consultant to media projects, government and cultural institutions. She is the co-editor of Puerto Rican Studies in CUNY: The First 50 Years (forthcoming 2021). Contact: [email protected], [email protected]

Wednesday, May 26, 2021 | 5:00 PM EST | 4:00 PM CST

May 4, 2021
12pm

The Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassador Program Presents:

Screening of Puerto Rican Voices film shorts and discussion with folklorist Elena Martine

Join us for a conversation with Elena Martinez, folklorist for CityLore. Elena will discuss the vast contributions of Puerto Ricans to the musical landscape of the United States and beyond. She will discuss the role of music in the migration experience, including evolving identities, and the ways in which musical traditions, like bomba, have been maintained in diaspora communities. Three segments from Centro’s award-winning Puerto Rican Voices television series will be screened:

Semilla Cultural - Runtime 8:08
Semilla Cultural is a non-profit organization developing and cultivating a community that embraces Puerto Rican culture and arts in the Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

Eguie Castrillo, Celebrated Percussionist and Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA – Runtime: 8:42
Eguie Castrillo performed with Tito Puente, Steve Winwood, Michael Brecker, Ruben Blades, United Nation Orchestra, Paquito D'Rivera, Michel Camilo, KC and the Sunshine Band, Dave Valentin, and Giovanni Hidalgo. He toured with the Arturo Sandoval Band; recordings include Hot House with Arturo Sandoval, The Latin Train with Arturo Sandoval, soundtrack for The Perez Family for MGM, Get Down Live! with KC and the Sunshine Band, and A GRP Celebration of the Songs of the Beatles.

Miguel Zenón, Multiple Grammy Nominee - Runtime: 9:01
Widely considered as one of the most groundbreaking and influential saxophonists of his generation, he has also developed a unique voice as a composer and as a conceptualist, concentrating his efforts on perfecting a fine mix between Latin American Folkloric Music and Jazz.


Speaker:

Elena Martinez

About Elena Martinez

Elena Martínez is the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and a Folklorist at City Lore. Her work at City Lore has included getting Casa Amadeo (the longest continually-run Latin music store in NYC) nominated to the National Register of Historic Places (the first nomination relating to the Puerto Rican experience on the mainland); and nominated master Puerto Rican lacemaker (the art of mundillo) Rosa Elena Egipciaco for a NEA National Heritage Award. <More>

In Side by Side: US Empire, Puerto Rico, and the Roots of American Youth Literature and Culture, author Marilisa Jiménez García focuses on the contributions of the Puerto Rican community to American youth, approaching Latinx literature as a transnational space that provides a critical lens for examining the lingering consequences of US and Spanish colonialism for US communities of color.

Through analysis of texts typically outside traditional Latinx or literary studies such as young adult literature, textbooks, television programming, comics, music, curriculum, and youth movements, Side by Side represents the only comprehensive study of the contributions of Puerto Ricans to American youth literature and culture, as well as the only comprehensive study into the role of youth literature and culture in Puerto Rican literature and thought.

Considering recent debates over diversity in children’s and young adult literature and media and the strained relationship between Puerto Rico and the US, Jiménez García's timely work encourages us to question who constitutes the expert and to resist the homogenization of Latinxs, as well as other marginalized communities, that has led to the erasure of writers, scholars, and artists.

Author: Marilisa Jiménez García, assistant professor of English and Latino Studies at Lehigh University

Commentator: Sonia Nieto, Professor Emerita, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Bios

Marilisa Jiménez García is an assistant professor of English and Latino Studies at Lehigh University. She is also the founding director and principle investigator at the Institute of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (https://wordpress.lehigh.edu/cres/). Jiménez García’s research on Latinx literature have appeared in Latino Studies, CENTRO: A Journal of Puerto Rican Studies, The Lion and the Unicorn, and Children’s Literature. Her new book, Side by Side: US Empire, Puerto Rico and the Roots of American Youth Literature and Culture (University Press of Mississippi, March 2021) examines the history of colonialism in Puerto Rico through an analysis of youth literature and culture both in the archipelago and the diaspora. Jiménez Garcia has worked on projects with Teaching for Change, The Children’s Defense Fund, and Sesame Street. 

Contact: [email protected]

Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and Culture, College of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Sonia Nieto’s research has focused on multicultural education and the education of students of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, with an emphasis on [email protected] students. She has written or edited 13 books and has received dozens of awards for her scholarly work, teaching, activism, and advocacy, including 9 honorary doctorates.
Contact: [email protected]   Webpage: sonianieto.com

Virtual Event

6 PM Eastern Standard Time

Centro Past Events

eJournal Presentation

The Puerto Rican Experience in the U.S. Military: A Century of Unheralded Service
And Celebration of National Borinqueneers’ Day

The impact and meaning of the Puerto Ricans’ service in the armed forces of the United States go beyond mere numbers. Their service has served to disperse Puerto Ricans across the United States and the world creating new communities beyond what we understood as traditional diaspora centers. Military service, in particular during the WWII-Korean War period, also served to build modern Puerto Rico, and for Puerto Rican colonias turning into full-fledged communities to stake a claim of belonging. In this Webinar historian and author, Dr. Harry Franqui-Rivera, explores the impact of military service for Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans.

The Puerto Rican Experience in the U.S. Military: A Century of Unheralded Service

Puerto Ricans started fighting as auxiliary forces to the U.S. military in 1898. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans have served in every small and major conflict in which the United States has participated. This publication intends to show the scope of the Puerto Rican experience in the U.S. military without lionizing nor demeaning it. This project hopes to inspire the public and scholars to look into this under-studied phenomenon.

Author: Harry Franqui-Rivera, Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of History/Global Languages, Bloomfield College

Commentator: Laura Lee Oviedo, Ph.D. Candidate, Project Historian for the Philanthropy Initiative at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.


Celebrating the first “National Borinqueneers’ Day”

In January 2021, Congress overrode a presidential veto to pass the National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation also designated April 13 as National Borinqueneers Day.

On April 13, 2016, Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment in recognition of the Borinqueneers’ numerous contributions to American history and outstanding military service from World War I to the Korean War. Learn more:

Borinqueneers Day and the Korean War in Puerto Rican History and Memory
In this essay, Harry Franqui explores the meaning of the Borinqueneers’ sacrifices for Puerto Rico and the Diaspora. “Let us remember that they represented the hopes of a people willing to sacrifice their youth for a better future, to pay a tribute of blood in search for acceptance, respectability, equality, a path towards decolonization, and a democracy that has proven elusive to them.” https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/centrovoices/chronicles/borinqueneers-day-and-korean-war-puerto-rican-history-and-memory

The Borinqueneers: The Forgotten Heroes of a Forgotten War
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/centrovoices/chronicles/borinqueneers-forgotten-heroes-forgotten-war

With Honor and Dignity: Restoring the Borinqueneers' Historical Record
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/centrovoices/chronicles/honor-and-dignity-restoring-borinqueneers-historical-record

President Obama to Honor Borinqueneers With Congressional Gold Medal
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/events-news/news/president-obama-honor-borinqueneers-congressional-gold-medal

Puerto Rican Voices Season 3, Episode 7: The Pride of Our People
In this episode of Puerto Rican Voices, Harry Franqui-Rivera narrates the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment and describes events in Washington D.C. and New York which were held to commemorate the award. Watch the full segment here:
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/centro-tv/puerto-rican-voices/pr-voices-s3e7-pride-our-people

Explore The Puerto Rican Experience in the U.S. Military: A Century of Unheralded Service
https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/digital-humanities/pr-military

Bios

Dr. Harry Franqui-Rivera is an Associate Professor of History at Bloomfield College, N.J. He is a prolific published author, documentary producer, public intellectual, cultural critic, blogger, political analyst, and NBC, Latino Rebels, and HuffPost contributor. His work has been featured in national and international media outlets, Telemundo, the New York Times, and NPR. His latest book, Soldiers of the Nation: Military Service and Modern Puerto Rico, (2018) has been widely praised. His next book, Fighting on Two Fronts: The Ordeal of the Puerto Rican Soldier during the Korean War will be published by Centro Press. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve and National Guard for over a decade and currently serves in several academic, advocacy and policy boards such as the National Puerto Rican Agenda.  Contact: [email protected]

Laura Lee Oviedo is a project historian for the Philanthropy Initiative at Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, where she was also a curatorial fellow for the Division of Armed Forces History and project historian for the War & Latinx Philanthropy Initiative. As a Ph.D. candidate of History at Texas A&M University, her research examines how war and militarization impacts Latinx communities and shapes their understanding of identity, rights, citizenship and belonging. 

Contact:  [email protected]; Museum: [email protected] 

Tuesday, April 13, 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EST

WHERE

Virtual: Zoom link

Congressional Redistricting in New York State (Full Webinar)

This webinar will introduce participants to the process and challenges New Yorkers, particularly Hispanics, will face in the upcoming redistricting of congressional districts that takes place every ten years. Centro: the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, the leading academic research institute dedicated to the study of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States, and the largest and oldest Latino Studies research institute on the East Coast, along with LatinoJustice-PRLDEF, the premier Latino public interest law practice and leading legal advocacy and human and civil right Hispanic organization on the East Coast, will describe what Hispanics can expect from the reapportionment and redistricting process taking place in 2021, discuss the findings of a new research brief from Centro on the subject, and learn how Hispanics can become actively involved in the process of redrawing political boundaries in New York State.

Joining this discussion will be the Honorable Robert Rodríguez, member of the New York State Assembly and co-chair of the New York State Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, and Dr. Ivelisse Cuevas-Molina, Assistant Professor at Fordham University and member of the New York Independent Redistricting Commission, charged with redrawing legislative districts in the state.

Carlos Vagas Ramos Presentation

Juan Cartagena Presentation

Fulvia Vargas-De Leon Presentation

Discussion with the Honorable Robert Rodríguez, and Ivelisse Cuevas-Molina

Redistricting 2020: Challenges to Hispanic Congressional Representation in New York State
by Carlos Vargas-Ramos

The process of apportioning political power in the United is about to begin. New York Latino U.S. representatives, and specifically Puerto Rican representatives, are vulnerable to losing their congressional seats in the upcoming process of congressional reapportionment and redistricting. This brief presents an analysis of population change at the state, county and congressional district levels to illustrate the changes to come in the process of congressional reapportionment and redistricting as it affects federal political representation in New York State. New York gained population between decades, but at a very low rate. New York gained population because of the sustained growth of the state’s Hispanic population, which countered the declining population of the state, particularly the decreasing non-Hispanic white population.

Presenters

Carlos Vargas-Ramos, Director of Public Policy and Development at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College (CUNY), centropr.hunter.cuny.edu;

Lucia Gomez, Political Director at NYC Central Labor Council - AFL-CIO; and Executive Director of LA Fuente A Tri-State Worker & Community Fund Inc, www.nycclc.org; [email protected] 201-988-8824

Juan Cartagena, President & General Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, www.latinojustice.org/en;  https://www.latinojustice.org/en/form/contact-us

Fulvia Vargas-De Leon, Associate Counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF, https://www.latinojustice.org/en; https://www.latinojustice.org/en/form/contact-us

New York State Assembly member Robert J. Rodriguez, Co-Chair of the NYS Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, latfor.state.ny.us; [email protected]

Ivelisse Cuevas-Molina, New York Independent Redistricting Commission, www.ivelissecuevas.com/research   

This event is cosponsored by LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Join the Zoom webinar at :
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83392117798?pwd=K3Z4ZUNBNkQ3dDZRdDJmVXIzenpaUT09

Tools

Redistricting 2020: Challenges to HispanicCongressional
Representation in New York State (PDF)

Virtual Event

Full Presentation

This event is co-sponsored by the Society of the Educational Arts, Inc.(SEA) / Teatro SEA.

This new animated short is inspired by Pura Belpré’s first picture book, Pérez and Martina: A Portorican Tale, which tells the story of beautiful Martina who is wooed by sneaky Señor Gato, whiney Señor Pato, proud Señor Gallo, sad Señor Grillo, chatty Señor Sapo, and gallant Señor Pérez, the mouse.
 

What is the Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassador Program?

Presentation by Author Dr. Raquel Ortiz

Manuel Antonio Morán moderates conversation with
Victoria Núñez, Raquel M. Ortiz,  and Tere Marichal-Lugo

Pura Belpre research, archival and teaching resources

Conversation with the creative team of
Cucarachita Martina's Musical Adventure


This event is co-sponsored by the Society of the Educational Arts, Inc.(SEA) / Teatro SEA.

The Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassadors Program invites you to the premiere of Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure.

This new animated short is inspired by Pura Belpré’s first picture book, Pérez and Martina: A Portorican Tale, which tells the story of beautiful Martina who is wooed by sneaky Señor Gato, whiney Señor Pato, proud Señor Gallo, sad Señor Grillo, chatty Señor Sapo, and gallant Señor Pérez, the mouse.

Pura Belpré was the first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City and author of one of the first Latino children’s picture books. Pura was also a cultural activist who studied, re-interpreted and celebrated Puerto Rican folktales and culture. Pura was a talented storyteller and celebrated puppeteer. As the first Puerto Rican librarian in the New York Public Library system, she pioneered the library's work with the Puerto Rican community. The American Library Association has named an award in her honor.

Pura Belpré stated that the story of Pérez and Martina was her, "golden key in opening doors everywhere." She used this story in puppet shows, pantomimes, and plays. It was shown on television and broadcasted over the radio. Pura, Martina and Señores Gato, Pato, Sapo, Gallo, Grillo and Ratoncito Pérez even rode on a float down 5th Avenue for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

The script for Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure was written by the award-winning children's book author Raquel M. Ortiz. Art was created by Tere Marichal, the recipient of two Emmys and the Premio René Marquez. Musical Director Desmar Guevara has created dozens of original scores, songs, and arrangements and has recorded with greats that include Celia Cruz and Tito Puente. The film also features the voices of award winning actress Alejandra Ramos, Mario Mattei and vocalist Elizabeth Pérez. The film was directed and edited by two-time Emmy nominee Waldo Cabrera.

Moderator

Manuel Antonio Morán is an actor, singer, writer, composer, puppeteer, theater and film director and producer in Puerto Rico, Latin America, Europe, and the United States. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of SEA, Society of the Educational Arts, Inc.

Presenters

Raquel M. Ortiz is a professor, anthropologist and author of bilingual children’s books including, Sofi Paints Her Dreams/Sofi pinta sus sueños and When Julia Danced Bomba/Cuando Julia bailaba bomba. She currently works at Centro as curriculum developer for the Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassador Program. Raquel is the author of the book, Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure.

Tere Marichal-Lugois an acclaimed actress and television personality known for her character, Maria Chuzema on Puerto Rico's PBS-affiliated Canal 6. She has authored over thirty children’s books and is recipient of two Emmys and the Premio René Marquez. Tere is the illustrator of Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure.

Victoria Núñez is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Mercy College. She is author of "Remembering Pura Belpre's Early Career at the135th Street New York Public Library: Interracial Cooperation and Puerto Rican Settlement During the Harlem Renaissance." RACE, FRONT AND CENTER: Perspectives on Race Among Puerto Ricans, 2017

Waldo Cabrera is a two-time Emmy nominated journalist and Executive Producer of My Long Island TV. He is a Multimedia Producer at Centro. Waldo animated Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure

Alejandra Ramos is a playwright, actress, director and producer. She is Co-founder and Artistic Director of Teatro la azotea, Inc. Her published works include “En la azotea, 10 piezas cortas de teatro” (Ed. Callejón 2016), and her play “En Blanco” as part of “Puerto Rico Off: Teatro y Performance Fronterizos” (Miami: Ed. Hypermedia, 2020). She is also Digital Humanities and eJournal Project Manager at Centro. Alejandra voiced Cucarachita Martina in Cucarachita Martina’s Musical Adventure.

Melinda Gonzalez is a dancer, singer and cofounder of the Bomba dance ensemble, BombaYo. She is also the Coordinator of the Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassador Program at Centro.

Anibal Arocho is the Manager of the Centro Library and Archives at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies/Hunter College

Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassadors Program
Centro’s Puerto Rican Heritage Cultural Ambassadors Program is a free, self-paced, multimedia online course in Puerto Rican history, culture, and traditions, with a focus on the migration experience of the stateside diaspora.

To learn more about the program or access free teaching resources visit https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/puerto-rican-heritage-cultural-ambassadors-program

Teatro SEA
Learn more about the Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. (SEA), Teatro SEA and their educational programing by visiting http://teatrosea.org/sea/

Centro Library and Archives
The Centro Library & Archives is the only archival repository nationwide exclusively devoted to documenting the Puerto Rican communities living in the United States. Our holdings include over 300 collections of personal papers and organizational records, including approximately 100,000 photographs, 4,000 audio and video recordings, and 2,000 art posters. Our collections consist of personal papers from prominent Puerto Rican artists, elected officials, social activists, writers, as well as the records of community-based organizations. Learn more at https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/library

Centro Archive Digital Collections
The Centro Archives Digital Collections is a growing resource of material digitized from collections throughout the Archive's holdings. The site provides access to photographs, documents, artifacts, art, maps, oral histories, moving image and audio clips, and other material pertaining to the Puerto Rican diaspora. Highlights include material from the Pura Belpre Papers, Justo A. Marti Photograph Collection, and interviews from Centro's Oral History Project. The Gallery section contains curated content on a variety of topics and people. Explore the collections at https://centroca.hunter.cuny.edu/index.php/

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centro Library and Archives located on the first floor of the Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work Building in El Barrio, NYC is closed, but digital collections are accessible online. Live chat with librarian at https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/library or email questions and requests to [email protected]

Virtual Event: Link will be provided upon registration

Here is your Zoom Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85724501333?pwd=eDB2TG5kS29GbzI0bTJOZWtIMHlsdz09

6 PM Eastern Time

Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST

Puerto Rico has suffered the compounded effects of multiple disasters since the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. At the end of 2019, the island was impacted with recurrent seismic activity in the southwest region, including a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on January 7, 2020. In early 2020, the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting health crises induced yet another economic contraction. All these disasters are underscored by a crushing debt crisis and a federally mandated austerity regime since 2016. Multiple natural disasters have exacerbated vulnerability and poverty; and public energy, telecommunications, water, health, and transportation systems have deteriorated and become even more vulnerable, causing systematic failures in social safety nets.

Post-disaster federal funding for economic recovery offers Puerto Rico a unique window of opportunity to restore its economy and infrastructure in a more resilient fashion while strengthening the nonprofit sector capacity for community planning, housing development and neighborhood revitalization. However, such an opportunity is contingent on implementing a comprehensive strategy for reforming public policy to encourage and support nonprofit developers participation in reconstruction programs, building industry capacity by strengthening intermediaries and CDCs, encouraging intra-industry partnerships and collaborations, and providing professional development for economic recovery.

Join us Wednesday, February 3rd at 3:00 PM EST/4:00 AST for a webinar to discuss the collection of studies included in Fall 2020 special volume of the Centro Journal showing evidence of how post disaster recovery is progressing in Puerto Rico, and the challenges and opportunities for local participation in reconstruction programs.

Event Cosponsors:

This webinar is cosponsored by
The National Puerto Rican Agenda, National Puerto Rican Student Coalition, IdeaComún,
Puerto Rican Student Association at NYU, Despierta Boricua at Yale, and Urbana Planifica

Presenters:

Entrepreneurial Dynamics in Puerto Rico Before and After Hurricane María
Marinés Aponte, Professor, Business Administration Department at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Río Piedras

Centros de Apoyo Mutuo: reconfigurando la asistencia en tiempos de desastre
Roberto Vélez-Vélez, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, SUNY at New Paltz

Impact of Hurricane María to the Civic Sector: A Profile of Non-Profits in Puerto Rico
Ivis García Zambrana, Assistant Professor, City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah

Puerto Rico Community Development Industry’s Capacity for Disaster Recovery
Edwin Meléndez, Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies and Professor of Urban Policy and Planning, Hunter College

What is Possible? Policy Options for Long-term Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico
Ariam L. Torres Cordero, Centro Researcher and doctoral student in Urban Planning (DSUP) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Presenter bios can be found at this link: https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/instructores

Tools

Journal Abstract: CENTRO_Abstract_Fall2020.pdf
Journal Intro: CENTRO_Intro_Fall2020.pdf

A Profile of Non-Profits and Recovery PPP (PDF) by Ivis Garcia Zambrana

CENTRO: Journal Special Issue: Post-Disaster Recovery in Puerto Rico and Local Participation is available here http://www.centropr-store.com/centro-journal-vol-xxxii-no-3-fall-2020/

Acompáñenos el martes 17 de noviembre a discutir actualizaciones en el financiamiento para tanto el programa de Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (HUD/CDBG-MIT) y el Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (FEMA/HMGP) para el Huracán María y los eventos sísmicos del 2020.

Martes, 17 de noviembre de 2020 a las 3:00 p.m. AST, hora en Puerto Rico
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 2:00 PM EST

Subvención en Bloque para el Desarrollo Comunitario de Mitigación (CDBG-MIT)

Puerto Rico tendrá acceso a más de $8,000 millones para financiar proyectos de mitigación de riesgos bajo el programa CDBG-MIT del Departamento de Vivienda de los EEUU (HUD). El propósito de la mitigación de riesgos es prevenir la pérdida de vida y propiedad en desastres naturales futuros. Esta asignación de $8,400 millones es la tercera y última remesa de CDBG correspondiente al Huracán María. Con esta remesa, el apoyo de HUD para la recuperación del desastre de María alcanzará un total de $19,900 millones. Por tanto, esta asignación de CDBG-MIT es una de las opciones de financiamiento restantes más grandes para la recuperación del Huracán María.

En comparación con los programas de mitigación de desastres de FEMA, el programa de CDBG-MIT provee más fondos (+166%) y cubre un ámbito mayor de opciones de financiamiento. Además de reparar y mejorar la resiliencia de la infraestructura, CDBG-MIT también apoya la planificación, la vivienda y el desarrollo económico, renglones que a menudo son inelegibles bajo los fondos de mitigación de FEMA. Esto hace de CDBG-MIT una opción para una mayor variedad de proyectos e iniciativas.

Los fondos CDBG-MIT serán administrados localmente por el Departamento de la Vivienda una vez HUD apruebe el Plan de Acción requerido. Vivienda recientemente publicó el primer borrador del Plan de Acción para comentarios e insumo público (ver más abajo). El borrador resume las estrategias a largo plazo para aumentar la resiliencia a desastres, y provee pormenorizadas evaluaciones de los riesgos que se enfrentan. Una vez aprobado por HUD, se anticipa que los fondos estarán disponibles para el año 2021.

El borrador del plan de acción (en español) y sus apéndices documentales están disponible para comentario público hasta el 20 de noviembre en cdbg-mit-plan-de-accion. En este mismo enlace se provee el formulario para someter comentarios e insumos.

Actualización sobre el programa de FEMA para subvenciones de mitigación de riesgos (HMGP/404) para el Huracán María y los sismos del 2020.

El programa de subvenciones de mitigación de riesgos (HMGP/Sección 404) es el programa post-desastre de mitigación de riesgos más importante de FEMA. Como resultado del Huracán María, Puerto Rico recibió la asignación más grande de HMGP/404 en la historia de FEMA: $3,000 millones, pareados con $1,000 millones de CDBG-MIT, para un total de $4,000 millones.

Según las reglas de HMGP/404, el gobierno estatal de Puerto Rico es el único recipiente de estos fondos. Para configurar los proyectos, el gobierno solicitó cartas de intención de posibles proyectos (LOIs) a sub-recipientes elegibles (agencias estatales, municipios y organizaciones sin fines de lucro). El gobierno revisó estas LOIs e invito a cientos de entidades elegibles a someter propuestas formales, a ser revisadas para radicación definitiva a FEMA. Aunque le fecha para su radicación era octubre de este año, FEMA recientemente otorgó al gobierno una extensión de un año hasta octubre del 2021. Esto permitirá más tiempo para la revisión y perfeccionamiento de estas propuestas, y hace posible que se añadan nuevos proyectos adicionales de mitigación

Además, recientemente el Gobierno de Puerto Rico anunció la asignación de $75 millones de FEMA para proyectos de mitigación HMGP/404 como resultado de los eventos sísmicos del 2020. Aunque aún no se han establecido fechas límites y procedimientos, el Gobierno ya ha identificado prioridades de financiamiento de índole geográfica y de tipos de proyectos. Estas opciones de financiamiento se proyectan para el año 2021.

Más información (en español) sobre el programa en: HMGP Presentation Spanish (PDF)

RebuildPR: herramientas de GIS para el desarrollo de propuestas para proyectos de mitigación

Nosotros demostraremos además cómo utilizar la aplicación web RebuildPR para construir mapas con datos relevantes para proyectos de mitigación. Obtenga más información sobre datos post-desastre de FEMA, USGS y otras fuentes disponibles en línea: Inundaciones (zonas inundables de 100 en relación a 500 años); terremotos; deslizamiento de tierra; daños a viviendas e infraestructura resultantes de los huracanes María y Irma; y daños a escuelas. La demostración de la aplicación incluirá cómo estimar el número de personas y unidades de vivienda afectadas por tormentas a nivel de municipio o de comunidad.

Programa De Educación Continua para la recuperación económica de Puerto Rico posdesastre https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/programa-de-educaci%C3%B3n-continua-para-la-recuperaci%C3%B3n-econ%C3%B3mica-de-puerto-rico-posdesastre
Este programa ofrece capacitación a profesionales involucrados en la recuperación económica de Puerto Rico tras los desastres que ha sufrido. El programa ofrece una serie de cursos a modo de educación continua en base a destrezas de capacitación para que los profesionales de la recuperación económica adquieran las destrezas necesarias para enfrentar un contexto nuevo y desafiante: el impacto cumulativo de la pandemia de COVID-19, la crisis económica, el azote del huracán María y los terremotos, y la manera de aprovechar las oportunidades que ofrecen los fondos federales CDGB-DR y de mitigación, entre otros.

Ponentes

Actualizaciones en el financiamiento para HUD/CDBG-MIT y FEMA/HMGP
Dr. Rafael Torrech San Inocencio
Consultor en propuestas/grants y en gerencia de fondos de desastres/mitigación
Autoridad local en el financiamiento de proyectos de mitigación de riesgos. Experto en el diseño y desarrollo de propuestas para subvenciones. Diestro también en recaudación de fondos, filantropía, recuperación de desastres, desarrollo económico, evaluación de programas y adiestramiento especializado; para agencias federales, estatales y municipales, organizaciones sin y con fines de lucro, universidades e instituciones filantrópicas.
Biografía

RebuildPR: herramientas de GIS
Jennifer Hinojosa
Asociada de Investigación y Coordinadora del Centro de Datos del Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños

Geógrafa y experta en análisis y cartografía de datos.
Biografía

Tools:

Informe de recuperación del Gobernador de PR (2018)(PDF)
LOIs (cartas de intención) recomendadas (waves 3 &4) por el COR3 para someter propuestas HMGP a FEMA (PDF)
Enlace para los planes de acción CDBG-DR y CDBG-MIT y sus enmiendas (Departamento de Vivienda): https://www.cdbg-dr.pr.gov/plan-de-accion/
Primera convocatoria COR3 para proyectos HMGP (sismos del 2020) (PDF)
Enlace al programa BRIC de FEMA: https://www.fema.gov/grants/mitigation/building-resilient-infrastructure-communities
CDBG_MIT_ACTION_PLAN_FULL_DRAFT (PDF)
Disaster Recovery Summary Sheet #3 (PDF)
Handouts Webinar Mitigación HMGP CDBG-MIT Nov. 2020 (PDF) by Dr. Rafael Torrech
MitigationWebinar_11-17-2020_JH (PDF) by Jennifer Hinojosa

SEGMENTS
Dr. Edwin Melendez

Jennifer Hinojosa

Dr. Carlos Vargas Ramos

Dr. Fernando I. Rivera

Sandra D. Rodriguez Cotto

Webinar to assess the impact of disasters in Puerto Rico and stateside Puerto Rican communities three years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island. The forthcoming publication "Enduring Disasters: Puerto Rico, Three Years After Hurricane María" will be discussed.

Presenters

Carlos Vargas Ramos, Ph.D. Click here for bio
Director of Public Policy, Centro

Presenting: Anticipated Vulnerabilities: Displacement and Migration in the Age of Climate Change
In 2017, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs unveiled the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, in an effort to move forward the Commonwealth’s initiative to assist its municipalities

Jennifer Hinojosa Click here for bio
Research Associate, Centro

Presenting: Enduring Disasters: Puerto Rico, Three Years After Hurricane María
The post Hurricane Maria exodus represents one of the most significant movements of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland in the island’s history in terms of both volume and duration. This policy brief examines recent from the 2019 American Community Survey (1-year estimates) that indicates that migration last year was lower than prior to Hurricane Maria levels.

Commentators

Sandra D. Rodríguez Cotto Click here for bio
Journalist, Radio Show Host,
Puerto Rico Information Network
Analyst, WPAB Ponce

Fernando I. Rivera, Ph.D. Click here for bio
Founding Director of the Puerto Rico Research Hub
University of Central Florida

Moderator

Dr. Edwin Melendez Click here for bio
Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Enduring Disasters: Puerto Rico, Three Years After Hurricane María

The post Hurricane Maria exodus represents one of the most significant movements of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland in the island’s history in terms of both volume and duration. This policy brief examines recent from the 2019 American Community Survey (1-year estimates) that indicates that migration last year was lower than prior to Hurricane Maria levels.

Anticipated Vulnerabilities: Displacement and Migration in the Age of Climate Change

In 2017, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs unveiled the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program, in an effort to move forward the Commonwealth’s initiative to assist its municipalities...

Thursday September 24, 2020 Time: 3 PM

Tools:

Anticipated Vulnerabilities PPP by Carlos Vargas-Ramos

Post Hurricane Maria Exodus PPP by Jennifer Hinojosa

El webinar " Fondos CARES Act para iniciativas en respuesta a COVID-19: CDBG-CV y USDA " presentará las pautas de flexibilización para el uso de los fondos de subvención en bloque de desarrollo comunitario (CDBG) de la Ley CARES utilizados para respaldar la respuesta al coronavirus. Además se discutirán los fondos de respuesta al coronavirus asignados al USDA-Rural Development ante la crisis de salubridad y económica causada por la pandemia. La agencia de servicios de alimentación y nutrición (FNS) ha emitido una serie de exenciones para permitirle a los gobiernos estatal y locales incentivar las cadenas locales de suministros para continuar el abastecimiento de alimentos.

Lic. Luis Carlos Fernández Trinchet, Secretario Departamento de la Vivienda de Puerto Rico
Bio

Josué E. Rivera, State Director of Rural Development (RD) in Puerto Rico United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Bio

Caja de herramientas (documentos):

Información ofrecida por el Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos (en inglés, United States Department of Agriculture, USDA)

Nosotros en Desarrollo rural (RD) somos el componente de financiamiento comercial, vivienda asequible, e infraestructura para potenciar el desarrollo económico en las comunidades rurales, como usted conoce. La agencia recientemente abrió una ventana para nuestro programas de subvenciones de telemedicina y educación a distancia, programas vitales en momentos como este.

La agencia de servicios de alimentación y nutrición (FNS) ha emitido una serie de exenciones para permitirle al gobierno estatal y local continuar proveyendo alimentos.

En Rural hemos provisto una serie de medidas para ayudar a los prestatarios, flexibilizando las reglas, estableciendo moratorias, y extendiendo fechas de las subvenciones. Puedes leer las medidas aquí: https://rd.usda.gov/coronavirus

•  RURAL DEVELOPMENT COVID-19 Measures for Rural Communities PPP.pdf
  
  
• Guía de programas federales: https://www.rd.usda.gov/sites/default/files/USDA_COVID-19_Fed_Rural_Resource_Guide.pdf
  
  
• “Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Inc” guía enfocada en las ayudas para agricultores ante el COVID-19 (Abril 2020): http://www.flaginc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Updated-Farmers-Guide-to-COVID-19-Relief-April-27-2020.pdf
  
  
• Programas del Departamento en la cadenas locales de suministros: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/FoodSupplyChainFactSheet.pdf ‘
  
  
• AMS: https://www.ams.usda.gov/content/usda-purchase-3-billion-agricultural-commodities-issue-solicitations-interested-participants
• AMS- Farmers Food Box: https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box

Acompáñenos a un webinar que aborda las oportunidades de apoyo disponibles actualmente para organizaciones sin fines de lucro, derivadas tanto de la Pandemia del COVID (PPP) como de los fondos de recuperación del Huracán María (CDBG-DR).  

Contaremos con el Subsecretario de Vivienda de Puerto Rico a cargo de los fondos de CDBG-DR y con la Directora Ejecutiva de COFECC, una eminente corporación comunitaria de desarrollo y financiamiento (CDFI) certificada por el SBA y otras agencias federales.

Ing. Dennis González, Subsecretario de Vivienda de Puerto Rico a cargo del Programa CDBG-DR (Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery) de HUD

Oportunidades de financiamiento disponibles con fondos CDBG-DR para organizaciones sin fines de lucro (OSFLs) para iniciativas de incubadoras/aceleradoras (SBIA), capacitación laboral (WT) y financiamiento de pequeñas empresas y OSFLs (SBF).  Además, un anticipo de la convocatoria futura para vivienda de interés social para poblaciones vulnerables.

Lcda. Giovanna Piovanetti, Presidenta Ejecutiva de la Corporación para el Financiamiento Empresarial del Comercio y de las Comunidades (COFECC)

Nuevas oportunidades de apoyo para organizaciones sin fines de lucro y pequeñas empresas bajo el programa Payment Protection Program (PPP) del Small Business Administration (SBA) y otros nuevos programas del CARES Act

Moderadores: Dr. Rafael A. Torrech San Inocencio y Dr. Carlos Vargas-Ramos

Caja de herramientas (documentos):

• CDBG-DR Advancing the recovery Opportunities for ngos/OSFLs / Eng. Dennis G. González PPP
• Programas de Apoyo y Financiamiento a las Entidades sin Fines de Lucro como resultado del COVID-19 / Lcda. Giovanna Piovanetti PPP
• PPP_Borrower_Information_Fact_Sheet
• SBA_PPP_and other_Resources_small-business-owner-s-guide-to-the-cares-act-final
• SBIA_NOFA_Addendum_2_EN_Signed_MMM_4-23-2020

If looking for accommodations, we recommend that you visit www.booking.com or www.hotels.com (and similar websites like Expedia or Kayak) to get the best rate. If you are not familiar with NYC, try to get a hotel in the East Side near Lexington Avenue or Grand Central area, where you can take the Lexington Line Subway #6 to 116th Street (walk up three blocks to 119th and turn right to 3rd Avenue).  Please note that the United Nations General Assembly is meeting at that time, so hotel rooms are at a premium, so please make your arrangements as soon as possible.

Courtyard New York Manhattan/Upper East Side

Call Marriott Reservations Directly at 1-800-321-2211:

Identify yourself as part of Centro at Hunter College Conference Callin Group

Marriott hotel(s) offering your special group rate:

• Courtyard New York Manhattan/Upper East Side  for 288 USD   per night

Start date: 9/19/2019

End date: 9/21/2019

Last day to book: 9/04/2019

Rooms are limited!

Centro is creating an online community to strengthen the network of stateside Puerto Rican communities. Our nation will connect organizations across the country who are working to address Puerto Rico’s economic and humanitarian crisis.

Why join? The Center for Puerto Rican Studies is the only academic research institute solely devoted to the interdisciplinary study of the Puerto Rican experience in the United States. When you join us, you tap into a network of individuals and organizations across the United States and Puerto Rico with the shared interest of linking data and scholarship to policy and social action. You'll be subscribed to our Voices newsletter, featuring the latest news affecting our community and interesting profiles of members of our diaspora. You'll also receive invitations to special events.