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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 Marta V. Martinez Francisco J.

Cruz
President Executive Director Forum Chairman

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

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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 of-

Directors 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 up-

coming 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

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 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.

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* 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. Participants constructed and concurred with the

following findings and/or recommendations:

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* 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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