doña olga noguera

Tomas Avila

2015

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A O

LGA

NO

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La persona galardonada este año es la señora Olga Noguera de origen Guatemalteco. Ella emigro a los Estados Unidos en 1967 como trabajadora doméstica con una familia en el estado de Massachusetts.

Tomas Avila Milenio Latino Institute, Inc.

www.mileniolatinoinstitute.org [email protected]

Doña Olga Noguera

Tomás Ávila July 10, 2015

El Centro Guatemalteco de NI se complace en anunciar su 5ta Gala Anual del Premio Quetzal, a celebrarse el día viernes, 24 de julio del 2015 de 6:30PM a 10:00PM en el hotel Marriot de Providence.

La persona galardonada este año es la señora Olga Noguera de origen Guatemalteco. Ella emigro a los Estados Unidos en 1967 como trabajadora doméstica con una familia en el estado de Massachusetts. En 1972 se muda a Rhode Island donde aún reside.

Sus experiencias y lucha personal lallevan a través de los años a abogar por las necesidades y derechos de la comunidad migrante en el estado de Rhode Island. En 1992 la señora Noguera se gradúa como trabajadora social del Rhode Island College y en el año 2002 a la edad de 62 años, termina su maestría en la Universidad Brown. La señora Noguera fue nombrada y formó parte en varias comisiones y directivas a nivel municipal y estatal. Sin duda, es un pilar en la comunidad latina. El Centro Guatemalteco se enorgullece en resaltar el legado de la señora Noguera en nuestra comunidad. Es un privilegio anunciar que la Congresista Norma Torres ofrecerá el discurso principal durante el evento. La congresista Torres representa el distrito 35 de California en el Congreso de Los Estados Unidos. La Congresista Torres emigró a los Estados Unidos desde Guatemala a los cinco años y ha vivido en el área metropolitana en San Bernardino, California toda su vida. Además se hará entrega de becas a estudiantes universitarios de ascendencia guatemalteca.

Doña Olga Noguera


Quinta Gala Anual del Premio Quetzal se realizará el 24 de Julio por Redacción Central

08/07/2015

Sandra Lake recibió el premio el 2014 (centro) junto a Támas Ávila recibio el premio el 2013, y Jorge O. Elorza recibio el primer premio Quetzal el 2011

PROVIDENCE.- El Centro Guatemalteco de Nueva Inglaterra se complace en anunciar su Quinta Gala Anual del Premio Quetzal, a celebrarse el día viernes, 24 de julio del 2015 de 6:30PM a 10:00PM en el hotel Marriot de Providence. El Centro Guatemalteco de Nueva Inglaterra es una organización sin fines de lucro cuya misión es fomentar, promover y difundir la cultura guatemalteca, al igual que establecer y promover los lazos culturales entre Guatemala y Nueva Inglaterra, e identificar y desarrollar estrategias para satisfacer las necesidades de los guatemaltecos que residen en la región. La Cena del Premio Quetzal es una de las herramientas que utilizamos no sólo para promover la cultura de Guatemala, sino que al mismo tiempo

Doña Olga Noguera


honoramos a una persona excepcional que está ofreciendo muchas contribuciones en nuestra comunidad. La persona galardonada este año es la Señora Olga Noguera. La señora Noguera es de origen Guatemalteco, emigro a los Estados Unidos en 1967 como trabajadora doméstica con una familia en el estado de Massachusetts. En 1972 se muda a Rhode Island donde aún reside. Sus experiencias y lucha personal la llevan a través de los años a abogar por las necesidades y derechos de la comunidad migrante en el estado de Rhode Island. En 1992 la señora Noguera se gradúa como trabajadora social del Rhode Island College y en el año 2002 a la edad de 62 años, termina su maestría en la Universidad Brown. La señora Noguera fue nombrada y formó parte varias comisiones y directivas a nivel municipal y estatal. Sin duda, es un pilar en la comunidad latina. El Centro Guatemalteco se enorgullece en resaltar el legado de la señora Noguera en nuestra comunidad. Es un privilegio anunciar que la Congresista Norma Torres ofrecerá el discurso principal durante el evento. La congresista Torres representa el distrito 35 de California en el Congreso de Los Estados Unidos. La Congresista Torres emigró a los Estados Unidos desde Guatemala a los cinco años y ha vivido en el área metropolitana en San Bernardino, California toda su vida. Además se hará entrega de becas a estudiantes universitarios de ascendencia guatemalteca. Como organización hemos identificado la necesidad y la obligación de promover y apoyar a los jóvenes guatemaltecos para que continúen estudiando. Una comunidad no puede avanzar política y socio-económicamente si no está preparada. Invitamos a la comunidad a que apoye este evento, ya sea asistiendo a la cena o por medio de un patrocinio o donación. Para más información por favor comunicarse con Tiana Ochoa al (401)316-1472 o por medio de nuestro correo electrónico [email protected]

Doña Olga Noguera


Olga Noguera

Interview conducted by Mónica Lucéro July 13, 2000

Source: Latino History of RI http://www.nuestrasraicesri.org/OlgaNoguera.html

I was born in Guatemala, in Puerto Barrios. It is located at the mouth of Lake Isabal and the state by the same name. After a year I moved to a place called Zacápa, where my grandparents come from, and that’s the place where I grew up. had two children when I lived [in Guatemala]. I worked for the labor department and one of things that I noticed when I was working there was that there was a company in Guatemala that came to establish a kind of contract business, and the only place that you can have a contract with Guatemala was through the labor department. [While I was there] this friend showed me a letter from a family in Wayland, Massachusetts that said they needed someone to take care of a two-month old baby. So when she decided not to take the job, I was like kidding when I said ‘If you don’t go I’ll go.’ So then I decided to go and talk to my grandmother, my mother and aunts and uncles. My grandmother said ‘You go and fly if you think that that is the best for you and your kids.’ So when I had the support of my family, I decided to go. And I do not think that I am a specific case, I think that we are thousands and thousands of immigrants who do that, who leave the children behind. Particularly the people who have to save lives, they will leave the children behind, they will not expose the children to the frontiers or whatever. That is the reason why I came because I had the support of my family. I had someone to take care of my kids.

So, I came [to work for] the family [in Wayland], the Sherman family. We wrote in English. I had a friend named Stella at the place where I used to teach short hand and typing. Stella spoke English fluently and she used to write the letters for me. So I sent a letter saying that so-and-so decided not to come, and she asked me if I wanted to do it and I said yes, that I was willing to come and work for her. And it’s funny when you are not

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familiar with English names because I didn’t translate the names and I knew that there was a Lawrence and a Catherine, and I didn’t know which one was Lawrence and which one was Catherine – if Catherine was a female or male and if Lawrence was a female or male. I used to write to Lawrence Sherman and I used to say madam, [laugh] I didn’t know that Lawrence was a man, Lawrence was Lorenzo, and Catherine was Catarina. So that was a piece that was funny.

The other piece that is funny was that when I came here, it was August of 1967 when I came to Logan, when at Logan Airport you had to walk to the plane, and it was so hot in the middle of August and I had a coat on. I didn’t know English, but I remember that Mrs. Sherman asked me ‘Oh! Is it cold in Guatemala?’ and I said ‘Yes, it is cold in Guatemala.’ Because my friend told me that it was [usually] very cold in Boston! And so that is how much I knew about Boston! So that is the reason why I came here and how I came here.

I worked for this family for a while, then left and I began to work in a factory. I worked there days and nights, cleaning buildings, I worked there for a very long time. I used to sell Avon, I used to do a lot of things. I realized that working and working would not take me anywhere, so I decided that I needed to go back to school. So I quit my job in the evening and went to school at night.

A friend of mine that was Cuban said to me one day that there were programs where you could work part time and the state would pay the difference making the same amount of money as if you were working full time while you went to school. I went and applied, I was lucky to get a job in this packing place, actually they packed jewelry, they sold a lot of jewelry from Rhode Island—the jewelry came from Rhode Island, and it was interesting that the first place that I saw the name Rhode Island was in the packing company. I graduated from that school. The school opened another center and I began as the secretary, I was hired as the secretary of the principal of that school. And I think that was for me the opportunity to

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be active. Even though I had been here from 1967-1969, I went to school for two years, I advanced with English a lot faster, I was in school for seven hours…that was a big, big break for me. I began to do a lot of advocacy for the students; it was a vocational school in South Boston. I met my second husband there. He was Colombian, and we came to visit his brother in Rhode Island, and my brother-in-law helped my husband get a job where he was working. So we decided to move [from Wayland] to Boston and we married there, in Cambridge Massachusetts. My daughter was born there on July 24th, and then I came to work for a cable company in Pawtucket, Carol Cable was the name of the company.

My husband and I eventually separated, and at that time I was already in the process of bringing my sons from Guatemala. It took a lot of for me to bring my kids here because I was receiving public assistance. I was glad that I had a good relationship with the place that I worked, because they said that I could continue working there. That helped me a lot to bring my kids from Guatemala. So my kids came. When I was in Rhode Island, I began to interpret for many people at employment offices, hospitals so people paid me. I met this physician and his wife is from Honduras and he said ‘Why don’t you do some cleaning?’ So I decided to do some of those things and that is what I did. And then I decided that I was going to go to school. I had a good friend, Carol Shelton, wife of Henry Shelton. I used to baby-sit her two children once in a while because she was going to Boston to finish her Master’s Degree and she needed help. One day she said to me, ‘Olga, why don’t you go back to school?’ So I decided to go back to school and I received my Associates Degree in education and social services. But before that I became active in the Columbian community, in [a group called] Acción Hispana in Central Falls, and that is how I began my activism in Rhode Island in 1978-79. Later I went to work for one of the health service centers here in Rhode Island, and one of the things that I noticed was that there weren’t many Hispanics coming to the [health] center, even though there were [many of them] in the community. So I talked to the director about it and she said she also was surprised that a lot didn’t come to the clinic for services. I remember asking ‘Why don’t you let me go to the bus, to the church?’ One of the things that I began to do was work with Acción Hispana (what

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is now Progresso Latino) and I began to do a lot of things. I would go to the churches and call friends and ask them: ‘Why don’t you come to the center?’—it was a health center in the Pawtucket area. There were two, we had one on Lonsdale [Avenue], and one on Newport Avenue. I used to work in the one on Lonsdale. I called [Colombian] people that I knew didn’t have insurance, and I would say ‘You know they have special services that will check your blood pressure and sugar level, you should check it out.’ People soon began to use the center. I think I was the first Hispanic to work there. From there I went to work for the New England Farm Workers Council. I worked with a lot people who came to work in the farms, that came to Exeter, Newport, Jamestown. I worked as a… I provided clothes and food they were entitled to, food stamps, I took them to the food stamp office and that is how I began to get involved. From there I also worked at the Blackstone Valley Community Action. That’s how I got active [in the community]. But I think that my activism was related to the way that I was treated as a single parent, when there were many places that didn’t want to rent to me because I had two boys and a baby girl; or they were teenagers or I was a woman living alone or on public assistance. There were some people that were very impolite. There was a woman who threw the door in my face. There are things that I never forgot. So I began to be very active with Acción Hispana and Blackstone Valley, and that is when we started the Hispanic Social Services Committee, in Providence[HSSC]. The reason why this group [HSSC] was formed was because there were many Spanish speaking, bilingual people who work in an English only environment. We were the only ones that deal with the non-english speaking persons. So we would get together to support each other and to support this community. So we invited the gas company, we invited a lot of companies and asked why they didn’t have anyone who spoke Spanish in their companies. They said ‘Well we don’t need anybody, we don’t have anyone that comes and asks for services.’ We said the opposite, ‘Well if you don’t have anybody that speaks the language then nobody will come.’ And I think we did a good job, and that is why the gas company and the electric company have bilingual people working there.

Doña Olga Noguera


A year later, in 1980 the Hispanic Social Services Committee became the Hispanic Social Services Association and under the leadership of board members, Cynthia García-Col and Ralph Rodríguez, we incorporated, we created by-laws, became of 401(c)(3) and hired our first Program Director. In 1988 Marta V. Martínez became the first Executive Director, and she led the organization until it became CHisPA (Center for Hispanic Policy & Advocacy). I remember the first project that we did was

to develop a relationship with schools and Beatrice Ortíz was the coordinator of that project. It was very

successful, and the percentage of

[Hispanic] parents in schools increased from nothing to 80%. The other project that we did was we began to do the education on AIDS, health issues but mainly on AIDS. I think that we have done so much with the Hispanic community that people who come now should be very proud of the people who opened roles. There is still a lot of work to do because of discriminations and racism, but I think that we made a lot of strides and I think that we need to encourage young person’s to participate in the Hispanic community, and I think that we have a large segment of the population that are young, that are very, very much interested in improving this situation in Rhode Island. The Guatemalan community [when it first began to grow in the 1970’s] in Rhode Island

I think that we have done so much with the Hispanic community that people who come now should be very proud of the people who opened roles. There is still a lot of work to do because of discriminations and racism, but I think that we made a lot of strides and I think that we need to encourage young persons to participate in the Hispanic community.

Olga Noguera

Doña Olga Noguera


was a very quiet community, and people didn’t know how many Guatemalans were here. I don’t know if it is part of the culture or it is part of the oppression that we lived under that we were not encouraged to participate in any gatherings. I think I mentioned earlier that the only gatherings were in the church and with family. But in the eighties I think we began to see a big influx of Guatemalans that came into Rhode Island. The reasons why in the eighties—even though in the late '60s and '70s many people came from Guatemala—was because there was a large portion of people that moved outside of Guatemala, they moved into Mexico. I think in the United States we have close to one million Guatemalans that live here. But in Rhode Island, I think that the reason why a lot of people moved here was because of the jewelry district and through the churches—we have some ministers that are from Guatemala and I think that is why so many people moved here. But the reasons for the movement in the '80s was because Lucas García, who was the president of Guatemala, did a golpe de estado (a coupe). This was the most oppressive government that we had. People were persecuted for all kinds reasons—students, social workers, churches, Mayan people almost everybody. It was because of the war. Today, the Guatemalan community is still very isolated. There are pockets of populations that are active in the churches, like they did in Guatemala, but active, active members, there are very few Guatemalans active in the community. Right now we have Juan García who is working with the amnesty at St. Theresa’s Church. David Quiroa is working in Newport, also began to do the work in the church. Even though they do a lot of work in the community, they continue to work out of the church. We have a lot of Guatemalatecos in Guatemaltecos Unidos en Acción (GUA), which began to do some work by starting a petition educating the Guatemalan community about their rights. GUA did a lot of work in that part of education from 1982-1988, we did a lot of education. We were able to have the cooperation between the churches, the social catholic services to do the education in the churches because that was the only way people would go to the meeting or to the schools. It would have to be a neutral

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place. But we have people from Guatemala like Astrid Toledo, who is worked for the Rhode Island Foundation. And we have others organizations, I think that we have GAARI, (Guatemalans American Association of Rhode Island), that is another organization. Mainly business people belong to GAARI, and I see the name in there (points to open project on Rhode Island’s Guatemalans). I think that the person who started that organization passed away, Don Carlos Toro. I don’t know what the mission of the organization is, but I think that it is a good sign that Guatemalans are getting together and being active in the capacity that they have to be. I think that one of the things that we have to do as a community is understand each other, but also I think that we need to respect each other. I think that we will be able to cross the boundaries that we have as a Hispanic, all the differences between the Dominican, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Peruvians… you know there has to be a time when we come together as a unit without forgetting the other people’s values, and reasons for being here. That is what should happen in the Guatemalan community. •

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Sundlun Establishes Panel To Represent Hispanic Community

KAREN LEE ZINER Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer. Providence Journal. Providence, R.I.: Sep 28, 1991. pg. A-12

Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Sep 28, 1991

Rhode Island's diverse and expanding Hispanic community will have an official voice at the State House, through a permanent 20-member Commission on Hispanic Affairs established by Governor Sundlun.

Keith Stokes, an aide to the governor, announced the executive order at last night's First Annual Hispanic Heritage Ball at the State House rotunda.

"Rhode Island was founded on the principles that we all hold so dear - the spirit of independence driven by faith and hope," Sundlun said in a news release issued yesterday.

"It was with this independent spirit, beginning with the very first Rhode Islanders, the Narragansetts and Wampanoags," he said, and continuing with the immigration of others, "that we now welcome (our) newest citizens, those of Spanish-speaking ancestry," he said.

Marta Martinez, co-director of the Hispanic Social Services Association, which has been a leading force in the commission's creation, applauded Sundlun for his interest.

"This is the first time the governor has recognized a need for a voice" for the community, she said. "This tells us he's ready to do something about the needs of the Hispanic community. And the fact that it's permanent, that tells us something. As parties change and governors come and go, they won't be able to change this."

The commissioners will represent areas populated by large concentrations of Hispanics - such as Central Falls and Providence - as well as other areas throughout the state with smaller Hispanic populations.

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The commissioners are: Louis Aponte, Samuel Bettancourt, Stella Carrera, director of Proyecto Esperanza; Marguerita Cepeda, Francisco Cruz, Dr. Glenn Garzon Forte, director of St. Joseph's Hospital Division of Infectious Disease; Bienvenido Garcia, Urban League of Rhode Island; Roberto Gonsalvez, Esq., Rapporte, Audette, Bazar & Sarley; Marta Martinez, executive director, Hispanic Social Services Association; the Rev. Julio Filomeno, Patricia Martinez, director, Progreso Latino; Peter Mendoza, Good Hope Center; Victor Mendoza, State Office of Personnel; Olga Noguera, Department of Human Services; Vidal Perez, director, Providence Ambulatory Health Care Foundation Inc.; Dr. Pablo Rodriguez, president, Woman's Care Inc.; Juanita Sanchez, president, Rhode Island Latino Action Committee; Teresa Stokes, and Maria Louisa Vallejo.

The announcement is timed "to the culmination of our celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month," which has included fairs, festivals displays of Hispanic art and music performances, Martinez said.

According to executive order, the commission will "gather and disseminate information and conduct hearings, conferences and investigations, and special studies on issues and programs concerning Spanish-speaking people."

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School Board Finalists At Forum Tomorrow

Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. will fill three School Board slots from among nine candidates.

THOMAS FRANK Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer. Providence Journal. Providence, R.I.: Nov 28, 1994. pg. D-01

Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Nov 28, 1994

PROVIDENCE --- Nine people have been nominated for the School Board, and for the first time, citizens will have an opportunity to question them at a public forum tomorrow night.

Many of the nominees' names are familiar, including board members Rose Antonelli and Julia Steiny; Retirement Board member Dr. James P. Crowley; Robert S. Bucci, executive director of the city's Anti-Arson Task Force; and Donald Singewald, who was nominated last year and has been involved with a parents group focusing on schools.

The other nominees are Juan Francisco, Deborah E. Johnson, Olga M. Noguera - all of whom have been active in the minority community - and Donna Capoverde, a literacy tutor and treasurer of a jewelry company in Providence.

Those names have been given to Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. by the School Board Nominating Committee, which received 48 applications and interviewed 20 candidates. Cianci created the committee last year at the behest of the PROBE report on reforming city schools to open up the appointment process.

The process will become even more accessible to the public with the forum to be conducted from 7 to 10 p.m. at the Feinstein High School for Public Service, Elmwood Avenue.

"I think it's very important for these folks to meet the public before they're appointed," said Paige Newby, president of Providence Parents for Public Schools. The parents group, along with the Urban League and the League

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of Women Voters, will ask questions of the nominees. Citizens will also be able to ask questions.

Although Cianci makes the board appointments, Newby said exposure at the forum could be influential.

"Candidates have to think about and address and talk to the public about what they feel about certain education issues," Newby said. "If someone really is not prepared for that, I think the community does notice and that could influence the mayor's decision." Providence is the state's only municipality whose school board members are appointed by the mayor and not elected.

The nominees include five men and four women; six whites, two Hispanics and one black. Cianci will appoint people to fill seats currently held by Antonelli, Steiny and Mary Batastini, who chose not to seek reappointment.

"The School Board should be a broadly based committee made up of a cross-section of the population of the city," said Arthur S. Robbins, the chairman of the nominating committee and owner of the Providence Marriott.

In applications for the School Board, candidates gave the following information about themselves.

Antonelli, 67, of 92 Erie St. has been on the board for three years and was a human relations specialist at Mount Pleasant High School from 1971 to 1991. She graduated from Hope High School and many of her children and grandchildren have passed through the school system.

She said her priority for another term would be to implement the recommendations of the PROBE report - the Providence Blueprint for Education - written two years ago by the Public Education Fund. Her top issues are having safe schools, staff evaluations and increasing minority hiring and parental involvement.

Bucci, 40, of 21 Shepard Ave. is a senior research associate at the Center for Social Policy Research at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and

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executive director of the Providence Anti-Arson Task Force, created in 1991 by Cianci.

Bucci cited his experience as a child advocate in Massachusetts specializing in educational activity, and as a consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Education, helping school districts develop neighborhood-based programs for special-needs students.

He said he supports a "consumer-generated model" of education: "Those that use a service must have a voice in defining the service." He also said the schools should "expand the linkage of education into other areas of children's lives."

Capoverde, 38, of 76 Lorimer Ave. is treasurer of Little and Company, a jewelry maker on Eddy Street, and a board member and tutor with Literacy Volunteers of America. She graduated from Classical High School.

She cited three main issues: diversity, financing and curriculum development. She said schools must "develop curriculum that affords each student the same educational opportunity while maintaining a sensitivity to differing needs, values and capabilities."

She said the school system "is failing in its duty to provide students with the necessary basic foundation needed to think independently."

Crowley, 51, of 305 Brook St. is a doctor at Rhode Island Hospital and member of the city Retirement Board - a seat he said he would relinquish if selected to the School Board, according to Robbins. Crowley cited his experience teaching medicine at Brown, Boston University and Tufts University veterinary school.

Crowley said his year on the Retirement Board has given him a "good understanding of the issues surrounding union-administration relationship."

He said schools fail to "maximally involve parents" and are "not providing effective student-teacher interactions that result in a student's developing a love of learning and a pride in expressing themselves well when speaking

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or writing. Teachers and students need more time together to develop this relationship."

Johnson, 47, of 206 Sumter St. is assistant director of admissions for minority/multicultural programs at Rhode Island College and a graduate of Hope High School. She is the only black nominee and said the board should seek to implement the PROBE recommendations.

Johnson said she would "be an advocate for that minority child (like I was), that single-parent household (like the one I came from), that postsecondary institution (like the one I work at), all of whom are frustrated because Providence high school graduates are often unable to gain entrance to college as a result of being academically ill-prepared and/or underprepared."

Francisco, 50, of 246 O'Connor St. is an administrator at the University of Rhode Island and a graduate of Central High School who has served on various parent-teacher organizations. He was a member of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education and is Hispanic.

"I am an idea type of person who is looking for a better way to do things," he wrote on his application. He said his priority is to "move forward a system based on old practices into a system that takes into account the changes in society."

Noguera, 54, of 48 Messer St. is assistant coordinator of community relations for the state Department of Human Services and a member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the New England Hispanic Civil Rights Commission and other Hispanic and civil rights groups. She is Hispanic and cited her knowledge of the Latino community as a strength.

Noguera said she wants to address the number of students leaving schools and violence in cities. "Dropouts, drugs, crime, teen pregnancy and most importantly that all of our children get along - no matter their race, ethnicity or country of origin," she wrote to describe her priorities.

Singewald, 45, of 36 Langeham Road is a district manager for the Social Security Administration in Fall River, Mass., and former board member of Providence Parents for Public Schools.

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He listed the contract with the Providence Teachers Union as the top issue. The contract "hampers effective hiring of the best teachers, especially minorities;" makes removing teachers and holding them accountable "nearly impossible"; blocks the implementation of "innovative changes in structure"; and "rewards incompetence and punishes excellence," he said.

Singewald said he would pursue more parental involvement, effective programs for bilingual students and school choice.

Steiny, 44, of 38 Forest St. is a playwright, School Board member and member of the parents group. She said she could provide "stability in the midst of change" and would bring a "vision for the future as well as a practical institutional memory."

She said the most critical issue is "the systematic strangulation of the teacher/student relationship (perhaps accidentally) effected by the teachers contract. . . . The union has been built into an old-fashioned, politically muscle-bound advocate for its membership, often ignoring the professionalization of teachers which was taking place in other parts of the country.

"The teachers' 'gains,' therefore, came largely at the expense of the children. In order to carry out decentralization, including the empowering of the individual teachers themselves, the union will have to give up much of its institutional power."

The School Board is the only one in the state whose members are selected by the mayor and not elected by voters. Members are paid $3,500 and receive full family health benefits worth approximately $5,000.

This is the second year the School Board Nominating Committee has been in operation. Last year, it screened 42 applications for 4 slots.

In addition to Robbins, the committee members are Crist Costa, a business professor at Rhode Island College; Philomena Fayanjoula, assistant director of the Rhode Island Educational Opportunities Center; Robin Lopes, a member of the Superintendent's Parents Advisory Council; and Keith Oliveira, senior policy analyst at the Urban League of Rhode Island.

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Do You Speak Another Language?

SECTION: RHODE ISLANDER MAGAZINE

Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Nov 30, 1994

PROVIDENCE --- Do you speak another language?

If not, you might just say, "No."

But if you're a candidate for the School Board and don't, the last thing you would tell a group of parents, school officials and politicians would be "no."

Bilingualism was redefined last night at a public forum for the nine School Board nominees when they were asked if they spoke another language and how they would relate to students whose native language is not English.

Donna Capoverde said her work as an adult-literacy tutor "is almost the same as trying to teach another language," adding that the jewelry company of which she is treasurer, Little and Company, employs many non-English speakers.

Deborah Johnson, the only black nominee, said she is "bi-English." Black students, she said, "don't always speak the language that majority teachers speak." Donald Singewald said he has "a real feeling for the bilingual issue" and noted that as district manager for the Social Security Administration in Fall River, Mass., he deals with a large Portuguese-speaking population.

Dr. James Crowley said he speaks German and Spanish, but allowed that those skills are "very rusty." Julia Steiny said she lived in South America and spoke Spanish, but later conceded her speaking ability is "not great."

Robert Bucci made no claims to - or denials of - bilingualism but said, "I think it's more of a mindset of empathy." Two candidates have used other languages: Rose Antonelli (nee Chevian), who said she translated Armenian when she worked at Mt. Pleasant High School, and Juan

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Francisco, who noted, in his heavy Spanish accent, that he has taught English-as-a-second-language.

(The ninth candidate, Olga Noguera, who is active with Hispanic groups, did not attend because she was at a conference in Washington, D.C.)

The lengths to which candidates went to appear bilingual indicated the importance of cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity on a school board that oversees a system in which 72 percent of the students belong to "minority" groups.

Ethnicity may play a leading role in Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.'s selection of three candidates from the nine nominees put forth by the School Board Nominating Committee.

Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in the school system, about 35 percent of the student population, yet the School Board has only one Hispanic, Juan Lopez. Cianci is reportedly leaning toward appointing Hispanics to the board.

Cianci's selection in January of Bianca Gray, who is white, to replace Donald Lopes, a black board member, was assailed by minority leaders. They noted that the appointment resulted in a nine-member board with five whites.

Aside from their linguistic and ethnic differences, the candidates seemed to in general agreement in support for reforms proposed by the PROBE report last year and concepts such as school-based management, ethnic sensitivity and evaluations for all teachers. Candidates expressed particular support for abolishing the current hiring system, whereby teachers must first serve as substitutes. The forum - the first of its kind - was intended to instill more openness in the selection process. It came a year after Cianci agreed to establish the School Board Nominating Committee to gather and screen applicants and recommend to him a list of finalists.

"This gave the community a sense of ownership in the process," PROBE Commission Chairman Edward Eddy said after the two-hour forum at the Feinstein High School for Public Service. "They'll know what kind of a

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choice (Cianci) has got to make." About 75 people attended, including teachers, school officials, City Council members and several people who applied to the nominating committee.

In the first part of the forum, candidates answered questions they had received in advance, which were prepared by the committee, the Urban League and the League of Women Voters. Candidates were then asked impromptu questions from the audience. Some of the sharpest contrast emerged when some candidates were asked what change would have the most impact in the schools.

Crowley, who is on the Retirement Board, cited parental involvement and said teachers "should look upon this as their personal challenge . . . Teachers should be required to contact these parents." Francisco, an administrator at the University of Rhode Island, said breaking large schools into smaller units, which is underway at most high schools. "All other problems in the system," Francisco said, from absenteeism to teacher control, "are going to come out automatically."

Johnson, assistant director of admissions for minority/multicultural programs at Rhode Island College, called for "deinstitutionalizing" schools and implementing school-based management.

Noguera, who gave written responses to the prepared questions, had no response, saying the question was not clear.

The candidates also offered different ideas on how to involve parents and the community in schools.

Noguera replied that schools should be open until 9 p.m. and that businesses should operate school programs.

Bucci, a senior research associate at the Center for Social Policy Research at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, said parents should come to schools to learn English, and the School Department should consider providing services for children up to age 3. Singewald and Steiny, who have both been involved with Parents for Providence Public Schools, often appeared to agree, and Singewald frequently nodded his head while Steiny answered.

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Asked how the school system could meet the needs of its diverse population, Singewald said schools should establish identities and provide separate programs so "parents would be able to choose that school that best met the needs of their child."

Steiny, a board member for four years, said the system should "change the teaching climate from chalk and talk . . . to critical thinking." She also said school officials should "go into the community and ask: 'What do you want? What do you need?' "

While most candidates agreed with the premise of a question, there were a few exceptions.

Capoverde replied to a question about what role parents should play by saying: "I don't think anyone has the right to dictate what a parent's role should be. The School Board should provide information to parents so they can decide their role." And Antonelli appeared to bristle at a question about what one audience member called a "dual system" between Classical High School - the college-prep school, which requires an entrance exam - and the other high schools.

"I see no dual system there," said Antonelli, a board member for three years. "Our other high schools have college courses. Those students have the same opportunities as they do at Classical. I don't see anything that is harmful to having Classical."

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Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. Wants To Appoint Two Hispanics To The School Board

Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Dec 14, 1994

PROVIDENCE --- Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. wants to appoint two Hispanics to the School Board and has asked the School Board Nominating Commission to give him the names of more Hispanic candidates.

"My ultimate goal," Cianci wrote in a Dec. 5 letter to committee Chairman Arthur Robbins, "is to make the composition of the School Board more reflective of the students attending our Providence public schools.

"The School Board is already, I feel, underrepresented by Hispanics, and I would hope to have more than just two Hispanic finalists in this year's pool."

Cianci's request drew praise from some, but a cautious response from both Robbins and Edward Eddy, chairman of the PROBE Commission, which wrote a landmark report two years ago on reforming city schools.

"I think the mayor is striving to make the board as responsive as possible," Eddy said. "I would hope that it could be done without bracketing slots for particular groups, since the board just isn't large enough to represent all of the groups who could be demanding representation."

Robbins, whose commission selected 9 finalists for Cianci's consideration from 48 applicants, said, "There was no question in our minds that they were the 9 top candidates." Three slots will open on the board early next month when terms expire.

Two incumbents, Julia Steiny and Rose Antonelli, are seeking reappointment and are among the finalists. Deputy Chairwoman Mary E. Batastini is leaving.

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Robbins pointed out that three of the five people on the nominating commission are minorities and said they discussed the board's racial composition.

"When you understand that the committee was composed of three minority committee members, then I think that speaks for itself," Robbins said.

As for Cianci's request for more Hispanic candidates, Robbins said, "I guess that's the mayor's call, and the mayor has spoken and he has a right to do it."

Robbins said there are two other Hispanic candidates among the 20 finalists whom the committee interviewed. He said he would convene a meeting of the commission shortly to determine whether the list will be expanded.

The nine finalists recommended by the commission last month include two Hispanics, one black and six whites.

The School Board currently has five whites, two blacks, one Hispanic and one Asian, but whites compose only 29 percent of the student population. Hispanics are the largest ethnic group, accounting for 35 percent of the students.

Cianci cited the large number of Hispanics in his letter to Robbins. "In order to better respond to the needs, concerns and problems facing our Hispanic schoolchildren and their parents, we must make a concerted effort to better assist those who are at various stages of transition in adjusting to a new language, a new culture," Cianci wrote.

Frank Corrente, the city's director of administration, said Cianci "would like to appoint two Hispanics, if they're available. He'd like to show some balance in the student-(School) Board ratio."

The School Board has come under sometimes opposing pressures in recent years both to be more representative of different city groups and less beholden to special interests.

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The Providence Blueprint for Education report, which the city has adopted, criticized the School Board, saying it "is not a unified body, nor one that has a good sense of its own role."

The report attributed some disunity to "the fact that board members too frequently are appointed because they represent special interest groups, e.g., an ethnic group, neighborhood or special-needs population and feel the burden of being accountable to these groups."

Cianci enacted a PROBE recommendation that the mayor establish a nominating commission to interview applicants for board positions and recommend finalists. The recommendation allows Cianci to seek more finalists from the nominating commission but not to "deviate from the lists furnished by the commission."

While operating under the PROBE recommendation for the last year, Cianci has also been pressured to appoint board members who represent various segments of the city.

In January, after Cianci appointed four board members, a group of City Council members complained that there was no one on the board from the West End. At the time, Cianci said he was "bound to pick from the list" supplied by the nominating commission, which had no candidates from the West End.

Other council members and some members of the black community criticized Cianci for replacing Donald Lopes, who is black, with Bianca Gray, who is white.

Eddy said, "The School Board should not be a fighting ground for special interests. It should be united to serve all of the young people."

He said there should be "some representation" of different groups in the city, but added, "I think you can carry it to an extreme. If you took all of the special interests in the city, not just the language ones, not just the racial ones, you would have to have a School Board of maybe 30, 40 members."

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Corrente said seeking to appoint two Hispanics "does not necessarily mean" that they will sit on the board as representatives of special interests.

Corrente said the Hispanic community "has expressed a desire to be included" on the board and that Cianci is receptive.

"I think it shows the administration is sensitive to the ethnic makeup of the school system," Corrente said. He added, "Why not, if they're all qualified, have it ethnically balanced?"

The two Hispanic nominees are Juan Francisco, an administrator at the University of Rhode Island and former member of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, and Olga Noguera, assistant coordinator of community relations for the state Department of Human Services.

Marta Martinez, chairwoman of the state Hispanic Commission, praised Cianci's moves.

"The fact that the mayor is making an effort to balance the number of Hispanics or make sure there are people there who can speak on behalf of the Hispanic community, that's a great move for the mayor, and I think it's about time," Martinez said. "I'm not sure why it didn't happen sooner."

She said Hispanic board members would be able to "understand and speak up when there's a need to do that, especially in Providence where a majority of the Hispanic community is made up of the under-21 (population), so they can't really speak up for themselves."

Robert Bucci, one of the nine finalists, who is white, also applauded Cianci's move, saying Hispanic board members might be more effective at getting parents or community members involved in school activities.

School Supt. Arthur Zarrella declined comment yesterday but earlier this year supported the notion of having a School Board that more closely resembled the student population. "I don't think there is anyone who would deny that there's a need for more Hispanic representation on that board," Zarrella said in January. "That's probably one area the mayor's going to have to work on. That has to be a top priority."

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Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. Appointed Three New Members Yesterday - Two Of Them Hispanic - To

Replace Three Incumbents

Copyright Providence Journal/Evening Bulletin Dec 23, 1994

PROVIDENCE --- The School Board is about to lose one of its most energetic and outspoken members but instead will have a membership whose racial and ethnic composition reflects the student population.

Making the broadest changes in the School Board in years, Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. appointed three new members yesterday - two of them Hispanic - to replace three incumbents, including Julia Steiny, a frequent critic of the teachers union and vocal supporter of school reform.

Taking office next month for three year terms are:

*Robert S. Bucci, a researcher at the McCormack Institute at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

*Juan Francisco, an administrator at the University of Rhode Island.

*Olga M. Noguera, assistant coordinator of community relations for the state Department of Human Services.

Gone are Rose Antonelli and Steiny, who both sought another three-year term, and Vice Chairwoman Mary Batastini, who is voluntarily leaving the board after two terms.

The addition of Francisco and Noguera brings to three the number of Hispanics on the nine-member board and the number of minorities to six.

"I think we have a well-rounded School Board now," Cianci said. He had sought to make the board reflect the student population, which is about 71 percent minority and more than a third Hispanic.

"I especially sought to give greater representation on the School Board to members intimately familiar with issues involving diversity," said Cianci,

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who made a campaign pledge to appoint two Hispanics. He had recently asked the School Board Nominating Commission, which screened applications, to give him additional Hispanic candidates but dropped the request.

Cianci did not personally interview any of the nine candidates recommended by the commission, leaving that task to his administration director, Frank Corrente. Cianci said he reviewed their applications.

The appointment of newcomers and replacement of Steiny brought criticism from some school groups.

"She's played a very central role in reform," said Paige Newby, president of Parents for Providence Public Schools, to which Steiny belonged. "She was a part of the original movement amongst parents that wanted to make the schools better for all children."

Newby questioned appointing three new board members when the School Department is trying to implement educational reforms and will negotiate a new contract with the Providence Teachers Union this school year. The appointments will take effect upon confirmation by the City Council, which is expected early next month.

"This is a very critical year for contract negotiations," Newby said, "and I think that there was some clarity to the issues that comes with being a member of the board for some length of time."

Over the last year, Steiny and board member Lisa Benevides-Powers had been negotiating with union leaders over changes in the union contract that would help implement changes recommended by the PROBE report on school reform.

Steiny was involved in other school reform efforts as a member of the Mayor's Implementation Task Force for the PROBE report and two other committees that tried to advance the agenda of the Providence Blueprint for Education.

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"I do not think it was the loving thing to do to the schools and the kids," Steiny said. "Nobody loved the schools or the kids more than I did. I worked slave labor for the schools and the kids, so why?"

Steiny said she probably would have to remove her three children from city schools because she fears reprisals against them.

"Teachers get mad about me politically and can act on it," Steiny said. "Now I have no way of protecting them."

During her four years on the board, Steiny seemed unrestrained when speaking about problems she saw in the school system, particularly the Providence Teachers Union.

In an application for reappointment she wrote in September, Steiny said the most critical issue facing schools is "the systematic strangulation of the teacher/student relationship (perhaps accidentally) effected by the teachers contract."

Two years ago, when she cast the lone dissenting vote on a new teachers' contract, Steiny - a playwright from the East Side - read from a two-page statement entitled "On Theft and Blackmail." It described the pact as "legalized theft from our kids and our city's future."

Despite Steiny's statements, union president Phyllis E. Tennian had kind words for Steiny.

"Although she was one of the most difficult to work with when I began my term, I have come to be able to work with her and discuss with her and have respectful differences with her," Tennian said yesterday. "I certainly think it's somewhat of a loss for the School Board."

Steiny said replacing her and Antonelli with newcomers "is a way of weakening the board." She said new members "don't know what they're doing" and "are going to spend a year learning what's happening."

Cianci called his appointments "progress, change . . . We're going into a new era in reform. I think the two Hispanics represent the changing

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demographics in the community. They're well-known. They're well-involved in the community."

Noguera, 54, of 48 Messer St., came to the United States from her native Guatemala in 1967 and has been involved in numerous civil rights groups. She said she hopes "to bring a different point of view," and praised the addition of two Hispanics as "a step toward the changes (Cianci) needs to make in the city."

"It is important for us to be in a position like the School Board and it is important for the Hispanic community to see there are some people who can make a difference in the lives of people, particularly in education."

Francisco, 50, of 246 O'Connor St., was a member of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education from 1988 to 1992, an investigator for the Rhode Island Commission on Human Rights, and a Republican candidate for the state House in 1990. He is the only new appointee who graduated from the city schools.

Bucci, 40, of 21 Shepard Ave., has been executive director of the Mayor's Anti-Arson Task Force - a three-year job about to expire. In Massachusetts, he has been a child advocate specializing in educational activity and a consultant to the state Department of Education seeking to help districts develop neighborhood-based programs for disabled students.

Board members are paid $3,500 a year and receive health benefits valued at $5,000.

As for Steiny, Cianci noted that he reappointed her three years ago and said, "There has to be an ethnic balance and demographic balance." He said he was "very impressed" with Bucci, who, he said, "brings strength in the budgetary area."

"Whenever you make appointments like this, you always make enemies and you always make friends," Cianci said.

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Cianci's appointments yesterday caught almost everyone by surprise, including Corrente and all the School Board candidates, who learned of his decision from a reporter.

At noon yesterday, Corrente said Cianci would appoint board members next week from the original list developed by the School Board Nominating Commission and was no longer seeking more Hispanic candidates.

An hour later, Cianci's press secretary called a reporter to say the appointments would be made yesterday afternoon. The names were released 30 minutes later, and when candidates were contacted, they were clearly surprised.

"I guess I'm not in it," Bucci said when a reporter called. Told that he had been named, Bucci replied, "Oh. I am? How do you know this?"

While Bucci said he was "honored" by the news, Antonelli was crestfallen, particularly to be hearing from the media.

"Really?" she said when told Cianci had dropped her. "I am disappointed, of course, because I have a lot of experience working in the schools and I thought that experience counted for something."

KEYWORDS: biography picture appointment Bucci Francisco Noguera

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R.I. school board must drop no-name policy ASSOCIATED PRESS

WIRE REPORT

Wednesday, December 5, 2001

Source: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/r-i-school-board-must-drop-no-name-policy

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Providence School Board has been ordered not to bar the mention of people’s proper names at board meetings. Superior Court Judge Stephen Fortunato Jr. yesterday issued the permanent injunction, saying the school board violated free speech when it demanded that speakers not use names at a July meeting. The ruling does not address whether the school board must hold public comment forums at meetings. The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the school board on behalf of Providence resident Steven Fischbach, a parent of a second- and sixth-grader who frequently goes to school board meetings. Fischbach was next in line to speak at a July 23 meeting when school board member Mary McClure warned those attending that anyone saying the name of an individual could cause the public comment portion of the meeting to be canceled. “I was surprised on one level that they would do something so stupid, but on the other hand, I was surprised the school board was trying to shield itself from criticism of the superintendent and of itself for that matter,” said the 42-year-old civil rights lawyer. The ACLU argued the policy was selectively enforced and amounted to a gag order on people’s rights to speak on matters of public concern. “I hope that this will be one more reminder to government officials that the First Amendment does not permit gag orders of this sort, and that to the contrary, it permits vigorous, even contentious debate on all matters of

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public concern,” said Amy Tabor, volunteer ACLU attorney who argued the case. Calls to the homes of Gertrude Blakey, school board president, and Olga Noguera, vice president, were not immediately returned. School board member Samuel Zurier, the first defendant named in the suit, said the board did not contest the lawsuit, and agreed to never again require that names not be used at meetings. “It was a very easy lawsuit to resolve. The school board agreed to everything the plaintiffs requested,” he said. “The school board agreed that it wouldn’t happen again.”

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The Guatemalans Source: Latinos in Rhode Island, RI Foundation, 2000 One cannot talk about the history of the Guatemalan community without mentioning the Guatemalan Mayans who have been trapped in the middle of a civil war since the 1950s. The civil war started when the United States helped overthrow the Socialist government of Jacobo Arbenz. Arbenz’s government was taking land away from the United Fruit Company, a US-owned export company, to distribute it to the poor peasants of Guatemala. The government, put into place with US support, was opposed by many local people. The new government death squads killed thousands of people for supporting the “guerrilla forces” or for refusing to support the local government. Because of the violence and economic problems caused by the civil war, approximately 250,000 people fled Guatemala in the 1980s in search of a more stable place to live.32 For many, the United States was a place to gain economic security and safety. People fled their homes vowing to return after the civil was ended or after they gained financial security. Popular destinations were Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, and a popular destination for many Mayans has turned out to be Indiantown, Florida, a community of industrial textile workers.33 Many refugees were taken in by the Catholic Church, which gave them sanctuary within its walls. The sanctuary movement was started at the border between Texas and Mexico in the 1980s in an effort to raise awareness about the political situation in Central America. It quickly spread northward and made its way to New England.

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Guatemalans in Rhode Island For many Guatemalans, Rhode Island became a point on the way to political asylum in Canada, simply a temporary stopover. In the 1980s and 90s, the Guatemalan community became more visible, settling in places like Providence, Central Falls and Woonsocket. Today, Guatemalans can also be found in large numbers in Aquidneck Island (primarily Portsmouth and Middletown) working in nurseries and running their own lawn care businesses. When Guatemalans first began to settle in Rhode Island, one of the biggest attractions for them was that it was a peaceful place, especially compared to cities like New York and Los Angeles. Many of the first Guatemalans to reach Rhode Island were from small farming communities, and the rural feeling of Rhode Island—particularly Aquidneck Island—made them feel very much at home. The first reported Guatemalans began to arrive in New England in the early to mid-1960s. Those were the years of the civil rights movement, and many women and African-Americans were moving out of jobs as domestic workers into better-paying ones. There was a need to fill these abandoned positions, and employment agencies in Boston reached out as far as Guatemala searching for domestic workers. By the late 1960s and early 70s, many of these women eventually found their way to Providence when city life in Boston became too overwhelming for them and their families. At that time, the Guatemalans who arrived in Rhode Island found very few Hispanics living here. The only services that were available to them were limited ones offered by the Catholic Church. Many Guatemalans felt isolated from their people as they sought places to speak their language or for the familiar foods that they needed to cook their native dishes. The only Hispanic business, where they found a bit of comfort was a place called Fefa’s Market, a restaurant and market in South Providence (owned by Josefina Rosario) which sold many Dominican staples. Eventually Guatemalans looking for food that

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reminded them of home ended up at Roger Williams Park, where a Guatemalan family pulled up their truck once a week to sell tortillas.34 Feelings of isolation were often expressed by many Hispanics in Rhode Island, including one Guatemalan woman interviewed for this project, who considers herself and her family to be one of the first to arrive in Rhode Island in 1962. Because of her undocumented status when she and her family reached Rhode Island, she remembers very little about her life in the West End of Providence, where she and her family lived in hiding in the home of a friend for almost two years. Even at the age of eight, she remembers living in fear that they would be found by authorities, and the loneliness sometimes led her to wish she could return to her country just so she could walk outside and breathe the fresh air of her familiar world. During her interview, she commented on the irony of hearing her parents talk about coming to America to find a more stable place to live, a place where they could gain economic security and safety, and to be free to walk the streets without fear of government oppression. At (unpublished correspondence) that time, there were three such families from Guatemala who had been brought to Rhode Island through the Catholic Church, an entity that was not prepared to give them the appropriate services needed to become contributing citizens of the US.35 Formal records show that during the 1970s and 80s Guatemalans began to settle in high numbers in the West End neighborhood of Providence, and also in the Olneyville neighborhood of Providence—on Westminster Street and in the vicinity of Saint Teresa’s Catholic Church, where a Spanish mass held every Sunday made them feel at home. The areas around Broadway Street in Providence, just east of Olneyville, are also heavily populated with Guatemalans. There are also pockets of Guatemalans in northern Rhode Island, in places like Central Falls and Woonsocket. Remarkably, in North Providence, a small community has developed, one that includes Quiché-speaking Mayans, an interesting

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phenomenon that has raised a new set of social problems for this community. According to one Guatemalan who has lived in Rhode Island since the 1960s, the Guatemalan community today is still very isolated.36 Many individuals do not get involved in political advocacy or find it hard to access state social services for which they qualify primarily because they are accustomed to fearing anything public or government-sponsored. The Guatemalan community today lives quietly in Rhode Island, and still relies on some assistance from the Catholic Church and other social service agencies. A number of restaurant and markets that sell Guatemalan foods are now serving the large number of Guatemalans who live in Providence and Central Falls.

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