Under One Roof May 1993

-----------UNDER ONE ROOF: The Juanita Sanchez Multi-Services Center

A Forum Coordinated by The Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy (CHisPA) Co-Sponsored by The Providence Department of Planning and Development The University of Rhode Island, Providence Campus Fleet Bank

Position Paper

May 22, 1993 Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy

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Message from the Board

The Board of Directors of the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy (CHisPA) is committed to promoting a unified Hispanic voice for change. CHisPA affirms the Hispanic community's richness in cultural diversity, skills, talent and energy. We are a growing community, which needs and deserves attractive, affordable housing, better schools, improved health care, and good paying jobs and economic opportunities. We believe our community has the right to participate fully in the benefits of this country, and to contribute to the multicultural heritage of this country. CHisPA does not provide direct services, but supports other Hispanic service organizations and groups by offering to help them plan and develop policy, as well as to seek funding. We are ready and eager to advocate for Hispanics whenever and wherever decisions affecting us are made, to lobby for changes in public policy, and to shape new policies which meet our community's needs. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude and appreciation to the vast number of individuals and organizations who have helped to make this conference possible by donating their time and resources. We are truly over by the many genuine expressions of support we have received, and make a pledge to honor your confidence in us. Likewise, we thank you, the conference participants, without whom our efforts would have been fruitless. The Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy seeks your support, respects your advice and looks forward to working together with you in our endeavors. We hope that this conference will be the first of many opportunities to interact with you for the benefit of the Hispanic community.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Gounaris Cruz President

Marta V. Martinez

Francisco

Executive Director

Forum Chairman

We welcome and encourage comments and suggestions for future CHisPA projects.

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J.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For the preparation of this report, I would like to thank the individual reporters and facilitators for each workshop. I would especially like to thank Francisco Cruz and Ashley Young man for their tireless efforts in helping to coordinate the entire Forum. Finally, thanks to Michael Van Leesten for his time and patience, and especially for believing in us. Marta V. Martinez Executive Director, 1993

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UNDER ONE ROOF: The Juanita Sanchez Multi-Services Center Forum Final Report 1.

Introduction

On May 22, 1993, the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy (CHisPA), with assistance from the Providence Department of Planning and Development and the University of Rhode Island, sponsored an all-day Forum which focused specifically on issues of importance to the Hispanic Community of Rhode Island. The goal of the Forum was to bring together individuals serving Hispanics in the state to discuss concerns and to identify key issues that would support CHisPA's mission and goals. This gathering, this coming together signified an unprecedented opportunity for the Hispanic Community to unite its financial, political and human resources under one roof. It was an opportunity for participants to pool collective ideas and models and to contribute to the development of the Juanita Sanchez Multi-Services Center, the first Hispanic Center established in the City of Providence in over 10 years. The name of this Center was chosen by the Board ofDirectors of CHisPA to honor a friend, a long-time Community activist, founder and Board member of CHisPA, who died suddenly in July of 1992.

H. A Brief History of CHisPA I. CHisPA was established in 1992 as a private, non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to the Hispanic Community and to educating others about the needs of this fast-growing Community. In 1990, the U.S. Census Bureau concluded that between 1980 and 1990, the Rhode Island Hispanic population had increased 132 per cent from 19,707 to 45,752. This percentage growth proved to be the largest of all the states for that period.

That same year, the Hispanic Social Services Association of Rhode Island began to see a need for the establishment of a key organization that could take on the role of advocate and provide

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support where it was most needed. HSSA then changed its name to CHisPA and adopted the following as its Mission: To promote citizen involvement in the Hispanic Community through broad-based, consensus-driven planning, policy development and advocacy activities-that address issues related to health, education and employment. As one of its first projects, CHisPA chose to plan this Forum in order to develop an agenda that would allow CHisPA to become a leader in the area of policy and advocacy for Hispanics in the state, and to fulfill its mission by including other Hispanic individuals and organizations in this process.

II. Organization of the Forum A. Workshop Format Over 75 people registered at the Forum, including human service providers, business owners, politicians, government employees and members of the Clergy. The first order of business in the morning was conducted by Francisco J. Cruz, Forum Planning Committee Chair, who welcomed the participants, introduced the Executive Director and other Board members, acknowledged Forum sponsors and thanked individuals who provided their support for the purchase of the Sanchez Center. After these brief remarks, six simultaneous workshops were held.

The afternoon session included two simultaneous workshops. One was entitled Under One Roof: Building Hispanic Unity and the goal of this workshop was on important issues such as: What forces are at work which divide the Hispanic Community? Who benefits most from keeping the Hispanic Community apart? How can we better address our individual ethnic nationalities while saving political cohesion?

The other workshop was simply called The

Building, and the focus was to begin discussing the logistics of setting up the Center. Discussions included: How should tenants of the Sanchez Center be chosen? What kinds of

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facilities and programs should be shared? Who should be hired to manage the building? How can a cooperative plan for sharing space translate into cooperative lobbying by Hispanics. The conclusion shared by many who attended this Forum was that it was successful in providing a formal and an informal setting for participants to discuss the issues they felt were important to address as part of the overall plan to incorporate services within the Sanchez Center. Community leaders--Hispanic and non-Hispanic--felt that they were able to share their ideas, strategies and information on available resources and that CHisPA could then begin the important task of advocating for change for Hispanics in Rhode Island.

B. Workshop Topics The morning workshops were organized to present and discuss important issues that have also been identified as areas of concern on a national level. Presenters offered their views on areas in which they have significant experience and there was a great deal of interaction between them and the participants. One CHisPA Board member served as a facilitator and another as a note taker in each workshop. The expectation of the Forum planners was that the participants of each workshop would share ideas for model programs and recommendations for addressing the problems experienced in their work with Hispanics in Rhode Island. The work put into each workshop was indeed exemplary. It is not possible to capture all the hard work, all the feelings of cooperation and intense concern shared during the workshops. The discussions and issues raised at each of these workshops are being presented here in the form of a position paper, which will also serve as CHisPA's agenda for action within the Hispanic Community in the upcoming years.

It is CHisPA's belief that with proper planning and an inclusive approach, the Juanita Sanchez Multi-Services Center can become the cornerstone for the success of the many groups and organizations in Rhode Island serving Hispanics. CHisPA will continue to lend its support to

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ensure that the Hispanic Community in the state acquires the means to have access and develops effective participation in "the system."

Section IV of this report highlights the following areas that were discussed at the Forum: Economic/Community Development: What is the status of Hispanic-owned small businesses and how can they be helped? What is our direction for community empowerment? How can we improve investment opportunities? Education:

What are Hispanic students retaining, and how can we help them to graduate?

Can we do better at drop-out prevention?

What opportunities exist for professional

development? How can we improve access, quality and utilization of services and support? What kind of access to bilingual education, ESL and gifted programs is available to Hispanic students? What should be done about the status of vocational education and job training? Adult literacy programs? * Employment/Labor Marketing Conditions: Where is affirmative action and equal opportunity employment? What is Hispanic participation in the labor force? What are ideal recruitment and hiring practices? How can we better the unemployment and underemployment rates? How can we accomplish equal representation in all labor forces? * Health: How can we improve menw health and substance abuse services? What is optimum access, quality and utilization of health services? How have Hispanics been affected by AIDS? Can we have better representation among health care professionals? Why do Hispanics have such a high incidence of disease? What about adolescent pregnancy, family life education and mortality rates? * Housing: What can we do about the lack of affordable housing? What access do Hispanics Scanned_Tomas Alberto Avila

have to fair financing? Does discrimination exist? Can we fix sub-standard housing? What kinds of financial assistance is available for rent and utilities? How can we maintain our neighborhoods? *Legal/Political Development and Empowerment: Is there affordable legal representation? What kinds of services exist for undocumented immigrants and refugees? How are Hispanic youth and adults treated in the correctional and rehabilitative services? What are we doing about citizenship preparation?

What kind of information is available concerning voter

registration? How do Hispanics participate in elections?

IV.

Recommendations For Policy Development And Advocacy

ECONOMIC/COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Facilitator:

Rocco Rainone

Presenters:

Michael S. VanLeesten, Mercedes M6ndez, Charles Newton, Ana Rodriguez

Recorder: Jose M. Gonzalez Participants in this workshop included Hispanic and non-Hispanic private business owners, business consultants, bank employees, City of Providence staff, Rhode Island Department of Economic Development staff, Minority’ Businesses Enterprises members, and Hispanic Economic Development Committee members. Discussion focused on issues of unity, economic growth and education. The following summarizes these discussions and identifies the issues recommended as priorities for policy and advocacy: * The key issue raised in this workshop was the importance of working together toward a more unified vision of economic development for the betterment of the Community as a whole.

The formation of a Hispanic Chamber of

Commerce can do this by serving as the catalyst that would provide economic empowerment for Hispanics.

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* Many Hispanic business people do not always understand all regulations involved with doing business with different institutions largely due to a language barrier. Policy efforts should be made to assist individuals whose primary language is not English to better understand business regulations. Participants recommended having public forums in Spanish and translation of information so that business owners can become more self-sufficient.

•

Participants felt that political empowerment was synonymous with Economic Growth. Hispanics need to be aware of and support legislation that affects their lives. Becoming involved in the political process can ensure that Hispanics have a voice in government. This in turn can help them become better educated about the business opportunities available to them in public and private enterprises.

EDUCATION Facilitator: Fernando DeNicochea Presenters: Dr. Arthur Zarella, Mary Harrison, Roberto Gonzalez Recorder: Marilyn Melendez Gounaris Forum participants who contributed to the discussion on education issues included parents, teachers, social workers, students, Rhode Island Department of Education staff and Providence School Department administrators. The group discussion touched upon issues relating to drop out prevention, the need for quality bilingual and ESL instruction, the lack of Hispanic role models in the schools and the importance of involving families in schools. The following issues were identified as priorities for policy and advocacy: Hispanic students need to be provided with a wider range of educational opportunities. At the secondary level, Hispanic students are not proportionately represented in advanced placement classes, college preparatory, gifted and talented, and high skill vocational programs. Policy and advocacy activities geared to including Hispanic students in the full range of education opportunities is recommended, i.e., Times2, Talent Development, Outward Bound, Upward Bound, Youth authors program, etc. Scanned_Tomas Alberto Avila

* The drop out rate for Hispanic students is the highest in the city of Providence and in the state. The reasons for dropping out are varied and include failure of schools to meet students' needs, lack of school success and the need to work. Likewise drop out prevention programs must be varied and include ways to strengthen family, economic and social services support.

Policy development and advocacy activities to support on-going well-funded

systematic and comprehensive drop out prevention programs is recommended. * Communication between the schools and the Hispanic Community, and real opportunities for families to become involved in the school experiences of their children are lacking. Policy development and advocacy activities that provide a variety of ways to communicate to Hispanic parents and support multiple levels of family involvement schools is recommended, i.e., participation in parent teachers conferences, activities to support child's education at home, opportunity for parents to help make school-based decision. * There is a critical need to review the adequacy of ESL instruction supported only, in part, by limited bilingual education classes. Policy development and advocacy activities that direct the state and local education agencies to 'revisit' the need for bilingual education, to enable Hispanic students to better reach high expectations and outcomes for success through bilingual instruction is recommended. * Union contracts limit the ability for local systems to hire Hispanic bilingual/ bicultural education professionals such as teachers, social workers, guidance counselors, etc. Advocacy activities directed at securing union support from the American Federation of Teachers (AFD and the National Education Association (NEA) leadership for affirmative action practices aimed at increasing the number of Hispanic bilingual/bicultural professionals in schools is recommended. * State certification requirements that provide access to job opportunities in schools for Hispanics is limited. Policy development and advocacy activities aimed at creating alternative certification requirements is recommended.

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EMPLOYMENT/LABOR MARKET Facilitator:

Ashley G. Youngman

Presenters:

Victor Mendoza, Cedric Huntley, Rev. Julio Filomeno

Recorder: Luis A. Aponte Participants in this workshop included employees of the State Office of Personnel, Department of Employment and Training, and private business owners. The issues presented for discussion include the following: * Hispanics do not always understand what Affirmative Action means, and therefore are not able to understand the policies created at state and municipal levels. Education must be provided in English and Spanish so that Hispanics can learn their rights as employees. * A strong effort must be made to make Unions and their leadership more receptive to issues that affect Hispanics, such as the importance of hiring employees with bilingual skills at state agencies that deal directly with non-English speaking individuals, such as: the Department of Health, Department of Human Services, Department of Children, Youth and Families, and Department of Employment and Training. •

We must challenge the issue of the inability for Hispanics to access Civil Service opportunities due to the U.S. Citizenship requirements placed on applications to these jobs, which limits the ability of legal residents who maintain a legal lawful residence in Rhode Island from applying for positions with Fire and Police Departments throughout the state.

HEALTH, SOCIAL SERVICES AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT Facilitator:

Jane Arsenault

Presenters: Margarita Cepeda, Patricia Martinez Recorder: Vidal P. P6rez This workshop explored issues related to the improvement of the general health status of the Hispanic population in Rhode Island. following findings and/or recommendations:

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Participants constructed and concurred with the

* Workshop attendees recommended that a new data base on the health of Hispanic be developed at the Department of Health (DOH) in order to intervene where it is most appropriate or cost efficient. The Health Interview survey conducted by the DOH should be done in Spanish by bilingual/bicultural Hispanic personnel, working in collaboration with community-based organizations serving Hispanics. Of the many health problems affecting the Hispanic Community, timely access to preventive and primary care was thought to be an overriding concern. This inadequate access is manifested in the following ways: economic barriers, insufficient community resources, cultural barriers and a lack of bilingual/bicultural Hispanic health care professionals. * Poverty and lack of insurance are the greatest barriers to health care for Hispanics living in Rhode Island. Those without coverage wait until they are very ill to seek help. Many Hispanics are poorly positioned to access health care by virtue of below-average family incomes as well as above-average employment in establishments that do not regularly provide health insurance benefits. All of this coupled with a system that is ill-equipped to handle the complexities that are linguistically and culturally different. Day Care Services in the inner city areas are insufficient, poorly organized and are not used efficiently to effectively met the demand. The workshop attendees agreed that community health centers are the backbone of the primary care system and that they should be expanded and given additional funding. * Cultural barriers are very important for Hispanics.

Evidence shows that even those

individuals that are well inserted and have access to the system fall through the cracks. The use of friends, relatives, children, or maintenance workers to interpret for patients is riddled with instances of poor outcomes. The number of bilingual/bicultural Hispanics atall points of entry into the health care system should be increased. •

The number of Hispanic health care professionals in Rhode Island is extremely low in comparison to the total number of Hispanics documented by the 1990 Census. There is a large reserve of experienced Hispanic physicians and other medical professionals living in

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Rhode Island who are employed in factories and other low-paying jobs due to the lack of opportunities that allow them to study and pass certification exams necessary for licensing. Additional medical school subsidies should be made available through Brown University in order to support and retrain Hispanic physicians. The Board of Medical Licensing and Discipline should create an alternative certification process that would thereby give unlicensed physicians the ability to work in the health care field under the supervision of a licenses professional until the trainee becomes fluent enough in the system and can pass the certification examination. Housing Facilitator:

Helen Priske

Presenters: Chuck Noyce, Joanna Morales Recorder: Lorenzo Ortiz Workshop participants included members of legal services, the banking industry and private business owners. Issues discussed included the following: * Individuals in the low-income income bracket have often been found to have a disadvantage because they do not understand the laws, their rights as home owners, or know where to go for assistance concerning legal issues (i.e. landlord-tenant relationships).

Due to the high numbers of Hispanics in low-income

housing, this is a primary problem for them. It was recommended that more culturally-sensitive training and information/education be provided to individual homeowners as well as to tenants, people in the legal field, and City officials in order to better serve non-English speaking Hispanics. * Housing services, such as those provided by the Providence Housing Authority, the Providence Plan Housing Corporation and others needed to be expanded at a statewide level. There are not enough existing services for low-income individuals in other cities, such as Woonsocket or Central Falls, both of which have high numbers of Hispanics.

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LEGAL/POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT AND EMPOWERMENT Facilitator:

Virginia DaMota

Presenters:

Sen. Charles Walton

Recorder: Francisco J. Cruz Discussions in this workshop were passionate and lively, primarily due to the strong sentiments felt by the participants in relation to the issues presented. The participation of non-Hispanics in this workshop proved to be an asset, as this group focused on sharing experiences in consensus building with the Hispanics. The following is a summary of the discussions and issues presented that needed to be prioritized in the development of political growth in the Hispanic Community: * Coalition building among Minority groups needs to be strengthened in order for political growth to take place.

The African-Americans who participated in the workshop shared

examples of the struggle they have had over the years to achieve consensus in the face of outside forces that they feel have tried to keep them divided. Blacks and Hispanics working together would form a strong political base that will contribute to the empowerment of minorities as a whole. * Hispanics should learn to put their differences aside in order to work together as one on behalf of their community. The problems created due to different cultures and nationalities within the Hispanic Community should be turned into a more positive strength of diversity. There needs to be a more coordinated effort among Hispanics to identify experienced leaders who can go into the Community and develop an agenda to suit the needs of Hispanics in the state.

In order to obtain

political representation, Hispanics must learn to work together to identify certain leaders who will work on their behalf.

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