News Briefs From New England Hispanic Newspapers
By Pedro Pizano, FI2W contributor
BOSTON, Massachusetts – Hispanic and Jewish groups have launched a joint campaign to stop “hate crimes targeting Latinos and the anti-immigrant rhetoric entering the mainstream.”
The Anti-Defamation League , representing the Jewish community, together with Latino Professional Network (LPN) recently organized a public event to announce the initiative.
Diego Portillo, the president of LPN who has lived in Boston for the past 10 years said, in an interview with El Planeta, that he has seen discrimination against Hispanic Immigrants increase in the past few years.
El Mundo reports that organizers claimed that hate mongers have rallied around situations such as the Swine Flu outbreak and the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, to demonize and scapegoat Latinos and other groups.
There will be periodical Latino/Jewish roundtables, starting in August, to advance partnerships between the Latino and Jewish communities. A “Declaration of Partnership” will be published next week, in both Spanish and English, in El Mundo .
New program from Children’s Hospital Boston aimed at the Latino Community
BOSTON, Massachusetts. – Children’s Hospital Boston recently launched Milagros Para Niños (Miracles for Children) , the hospital’s first-ever fundraising campaign specifically aimed at the Latino community.
“This pioneering initiative aims to raise money and awareness to support Children’s clinical care and research for its increasingly diverse patient population,“ according to a news release from the hospital.
Out of 500,000 children that use the Hospital every year, 100,000 (20%) are Latino. At the Martha Eliot Health Center in Jamaica Plain, which is owned and operated by Children’s Hospital, 65% of the patients are Latino, according to El Mundo.
“The Latino community is very important for Children’s and we are proud to serve all families in need of our services,” said Sandra Fenwick, the hospital’s president and chief operating officer.
The fund-raising campaign will culminate with Children’s serving as the first-ever charitable partner for the Comcast Latino Family Festival at Fenway Park, which will be hosted by El Mundo Newspaper and the Boston Red Sox Foundation on Sunday, August 2nd, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
8th Massachusetts congressman to sponsor DREAM Act.
LYNN, Massachusetts. – Members of the Student Immigrant Movement met with Congressman John Tierney last Monday to discuss the DREAM Act. After the meeting Tierney agreed to co-sponsor the bill, according to Boston weekly Siglo21.
Tierney’s commitment brings to eight the number of Massachusetts congressional representatives sponsoring the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act . The act would provide a path to citizenship to about 65,000 undocumented young adults that have been in the U.S. for 5 years, have graduated from high school, and want to go to college or enlist for military service. They must also show proof of “good moral character.” (click to see USCIS (formerly INS) questionnaire to determine “moral character”). Additionally the DREAM Act would also return to states the authority to determine whether to grant in-state tuition to state residents regardless of immigration status.
