Community

Community

CALL TO ACTION – CREATING COMMUNITY-BASED CAPACITY BUILDING

CALL TO ACTION – CREATING COMMUNITY-BASED CAPACITY BUILDING The recent federal government shutdown has highlighted the imperative need for community activists to continue to work on capacity building and to create viable coalitions across the Nation and the global community. We build communities not Walls. Our hard work edifies communities across the Nation and throughout the world. Money wiring to Latin America and throughout the world to immigrant communities have and continue to create domestic growth and economic opportunity. We have built communities and endure being victims of violent crime, systemic racism and public institutional neglect. There is an economic and banking crisis looming at our doorstep. A crisis fabricated and sustained by the erosion of regulatory protection of consumers, farmers and small businesses. The time is ripe, and we have standing to address the issues we are facing from the adverse impact of the shut down to the need of addressing true criminal justice reform. The American Dream has left us and for many of us in our respective immigrant and Latino communities, the dream has never been obtainable as systemic failures in how elected officials and the federal government have neglected public institutions and public programs that seek to serve us. This is a crucial and defining moment in our identity as Americans of Latino descent in the United States and as members of the global village.  The current social and political climate calls for organizing block by block and to demand action and accountability from our elected representatives. If our call to action are left unheard and dismissed, let us mobilize and register to vote, with the goal of getting the vote out. The tide needs and must be turned around! Mere complaining and or making a reference to the systemic racism and backlash we have and continue to endure are not working. Build yourself first and while in the process take a moment and encourage a neighbor and a fellow citizen to become part of the civic fabric. Our past defines us as people who come into neighborhoods and areas crime ridden and poor and with our vision and ingenuity, we develop boulevards of prosperity. The present is here, and it is ours and of our brothers and sisters who are also striving for better public institutions for their children and communities. We are all connected and affected by the social, educational and political crisis our nation is facing. We are all impacted by it.  Sit with yourself and courageously take a step towards your self-edification, become an agent of social change. The future is now, Juntos Podemos! Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books Business Culture Education Entertainment Food Government Health Interviews Lower West Side Business & Economic Development Medical Military & Veterans Our Community Peace People Sports Who We Are CALL TO ACTION – CREATING COMMUNITY-BASED CAPACITY BUILDING February 13, 2019/No Comments CALL TO ACTION – CREATING COMMUNITY-BASED CAPACITY BUILDING The recent federal government shutdown has highlighted the imperative need for community Read More

Community

WHY WE NEED TO SUPPORT AND INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITY CANDIDATES

Honest and loyal representation in our community is going to cost money, to sustain, maintain, and grow our communities. One of the major problems we have in our communities is that we don’t invest in our candidates, and we don’t vote! Do you know what happens when we don’t supply our support to our candidate/s running for office? The interest groups, and other people outside our communities, take advantage and take the opportunity to invest, donate, contribute, and support them. By the time our candidates get elected to office, they no longer belong to our community. The people that invested in them get the goodies and the right to control them. They got him or her elected — not us! The next time your local candidate comes to you for help, do the right thing for your people, yourself, and your family: Register to vote – this is a must in our democracy. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain! Research your candidate, find out about what your candidates stand for, and look at his or her experience with the community. If you like what you find out, contribute anything you can, $5, $10, $15, etc., and if you can give more, give more. Spend the word to your friends and family to support your candidate and encourage them to donate what they can to help him, or her get elected. If you have the time, get involved directly by working with the committee working to get him or her elected. There is so much you can do for the candidate, just by volunteering one to three or four hours per day or for the whole week. The little time you give your candidate can turn out to be a big thing for our community. If we do all these things, the candidate becomes a product of the community, becomes your candidate, and not of the political machine, not of the outside interest groups. American politics is very serious, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we can grow and advance the future of our community — socially, educationally, and economically. Look at the political principle of this city: “You have to pay to play, and it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Well folks, let’s stop the political abuse, and let us begin to develop our own “game in the interest of our people, our children, and our youth. REGISTER, EDUCATE YOURSELF, AND LEARN ABOUT WHO’S WHO IN YOUR COMMUNITY…. Remember, when you say that you’re not interested in politics, that in itself is a political statement. Help, and join those that are working to bring respect and quality representation to your community. Don’t wait for me to say, “I told you so?” Too many people in our community complain and cry about government service, but don’t do anything about it. This year, we find a lot of young and committed individuals running for office, and many of them will not make it to the June Primary, but their energy and spirit will remind us, and we can begin to plant a seed from that effort. The Buffalo Latino Village has many public statements and even has endorsed independent candidates running against the Democratic machine, and because of that, we have lost some support and advertisement for the publication, but we are willing to take a stand, and sacrifice, because we know that these are things that must be done to develop respect for our community; yes, even if I take a hit. We are committed to being around for the long run, we are not going anywhere. This is a rough draft, a work in progress…. Read, review, and share in discussion with your friends and family members. I came to Buffalo in 1967 to attend UB, and before I left in 1987, I was a man, no longer a student. Yes, from 67-85, I gave it my best to help bring the Puerto Rican/Latino community a respectable standing in the political community. We create many programs and services, many that are around today with a different names, and with different “so-called” founders, who were not around to be founders of anything. But that is another story. We just need to grow and develop, we need to be creative, imaginative, and work to make our young people proud of their Puerto Ricans, of their Dominicanism… We must carve out a piece of the action for our community. All other communities have their territory, their commissioners, their elected officials, and their countless businesses. We too are entitled to have a dream. Read More From This Writer All Post Art Books Business Community Education Entertainment Food & Culture Health Interviews Military & Veterans Peace People Politics LATINO COLLEGE STUDENTS FACE INEQUALITY AND CULTURAL ISOLATION AT THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK at BUFFALO March 25, 2023/No Comments LACK OF COLLEGE SERVICES FOR LATINO STUDENTS: This is in response to a story by UB Spectrum reporter, Kayla Estrada, Read More “GETTING VERY LITTLE FOR THE WHOLE,  BUT GETTING A LOT FOR THE FEW” WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN 2023 January 25, 2023/No Comments While I might appear to be biased and selective, I strongly feel the four people in the photo are the Read More The Isaías González-Soto Branch Library (formerly Niagara Branch) is a member of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library System December 25, 2022/No Comments When the Hispanic Heritage Council (HHC) moved to rename the Niagara Branch Library several years ago, with the support of Read More Load More End of Content.

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