Portada / Front Page
El Sol Latino July 2021
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Hispanic-American Library Opens its New Doors at Union Station by MANUEL FRAU RAMOS On June 11, 2021, the Hispanic-American Library (HAL) opened the doors of its new home at Union Station in Springfield. Armando Feliciano, HAL Board member, was the master of ceremony for the event. Juan R Falcón, President and CEO of HAL addressed the guests, accompanied by members of the Board of Directors of the organization: Milagros Johnson, Dr. Ana Rivera Passalacqua, Wilberto Rodríguez, and Manuel Frau Ramos. Congressman Richard E. Neal, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, State Senator Adam Gómez, and State Representatives Carlos González and Brian Ashe were present for this grand opening of the Hispanic-American Library at Union Station. State funds in the amount of $150,000 provided to HAL at the initiative of Representative Carlos González helped the organization rebuild and continue to expand their educational and cultural offerings. Also in attendance were several city and state officials: City Councilors Gumersindo Gómez, Víctor Dávila, Jesse Lederman, Melvin Edwards, Tracye Whitfield, and Justin Hurst as well as newly appointed City Clerk Gladys Oyola, Springfield’s Deputy Mayor Minerva Marrero, María Pérez, City School Committee member, José Claudio, Chief Operating Officer of the New North Citizens’ Council, Inc., and Sheriff Nick Cocchi. Springfield Redevelopment Authority (SRA) Director Christopher Moskal, and SRA Deputy Director Amanda Pham worked with HAL to make this permanent home possible. During the event, two local Latino organizations, Amador Foundation, Inc, and United Hispanic Nurses of America, LLC surprised HAL with donations of $1,000 and $3,000, respectively. For more than three decades, the HAL has been offering its services and programs from spaces belonging to other local community-based organizations. For many years, the library was located in the building belonging to the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) on School Street, and had most recently been operating in the facilities of the Hispanic community service organization, New North Citizens’ Council, Inc., (NNCC) located on Main Street, Springfield. Despite not having had a permanent home and been through tough times financially, HAL has kept reaching out to other organization in the region and established educational and cultural collaborations with many groups and organizations. For many years, HAL has actively participated in the annual Springfield Puerto Rican Parade. Together with the New North Citizens’
Council, Women on the Vanguard, and Los Gigantes de la Plena they organized the Bomplenaso Celebration in 2019 that was dedicated to well known Puerto Rican musician Wilfredo “Freddy Moreno”, who passed away in 2006. In 2019, the students of the New North Citizens’ Council Children and Family Center’s (NNCC) Day Care participated in an innovative educational and cultural project organized by HAL. Under the direction of Marilyn Gallo, a veteran Springfield Public Schools teacher, a range of activities focusing on Puerto Rican culture and history were incorporated into the Day Care curriculum. These included history, art, crafts, and DYI projects that the students took home with them. In September of 2019, HAL sponsored poet José Luis Silva-Díaz’s first promotional tour of his Puerto Rican poetry and folklore books in Western Massachusetts. In addition, since 2019, HAL has partnered with the Puerto Rican Cultural Project of The Holyoke Public Library to host one of their signature events, the annual celebration of El Grito de Lares at the Holyoke Public Library. As part of this annual event, they have hosted various speakers such as Nelson Antonio Denis, author and film director of War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony; Harry Franqui-Rivera, Ph.D. (CENTRO) author of Citizen Soldiers: Myth and Truths Behind the Jones Act, Puerto Rico and World War I; Charles Venator Santiago, Ph.D. (UConn-Storrs) author of The Only Democratic Option for PR: Status Citizenship and Anti Democratic U.S. Constitution; Ginetta Candelario, Ph.D. (Smith College) author of Cien Años de Feminismos Dominicanos, and Solsiree del Moral, Ph.D. (Amherst College) author of Modern Puerto Rico: A First Reading List.