CPCS News Archive

October-November 2005

CIRCLE Celebrated its 10th Year Anniversary on November 10th!



On Thursday November 10th more than 120 people packed into the Campus Center Ballroom to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the College's Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership and Empowerment. Nineteen students graduated from CIRCLE’s leadership program and 4 received certificates of participation. Students represented the countries and immigrant communities of Brazil, Dominican Republic, Iran, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica, Somalia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ireland and Spain.

Pierre Imbert, executive Director of the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants, and CPCS Alum, was honored by the graduates for exemplifying outstanding leadership in the immigrant community.

Elaine Ward, Director of CIRCLE, would like to extend her sincerest thanks to all who made this event the success it was;

Amelia Onorato, Sarah Bartlett, Ismael Ramirez-Soto, Suzanne Allmendinger, Evelyn Wong, Andrea Wight, Peter Kiang, Miwa and Soramy from Asian American Studies, the student planning committee – Journel (for chairing the committee and for his work on the video), Andrea Sousa, Marie-Banatte, Fadumo, Beverly, Fritz, Ria, Lamos, and Alfred--, Linda Barros for MCing and Omar Oliveira for filming and editing the video, and our sponsors Café Belo, Sabur Restaurant, and Hi-Fi Pizza. A special thank you to Interim Associate Dean Anna Madison for supporting the event.

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Professor Andrew Leong's Asian Americans and the Law class in Chinatown

What do the recent Voting Rights law suit against the City of Boston, a Chinatown street theater to highlight gentrification, and a re-creation of the 1965 Martin Luther King Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March have in common? If you were in Professor Andrew Leong's Asian Americans and the Law class this semester, they were all topics of recent discussion as well as learning opportunities. During the course of the last several years, Boston Chinatown has been taken over by gentrification. Wherever one looked, there were signs of construction cranes. Current residents are quickly feeling the impact of gentrification from the rent increases that landlords are demanding. Residents have been fighting back such increases by organizing amongst themselves to form tenant's union in order to negotiate with the landlord. Aside from detailed discussions of these topics in class, several students participated in the preparation of the Chinatown Street Theater. Baindu Coomber was one student who participated in the planning and strategizing of the event. Along with Prof. Leong and other organizer/activists from the Chinese Progressive Association, a small group wrote the script, made the props, organized actors and residents, did outreach to the broader community – all within a very intense 6-week long period. Baindu was followed by other CPCS students such as Stephanie Kung who assisted in other preparation activities weeks in advanced of the event. On the day of the theater, other CPCS students also came out to help and learn from the street theater event: Antonia Moler, Vicki Murphy, Candice Mundy and Alan Lau. Overall, it was a great day to participate in advocating for a present cause and learn about the significance and our collective legacy to the historic passage of the Voting Rights Act.

On October 3rd, CPCS hosted a meeting with the Irish Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science, Sile de Valera. Staff and faculty from the Adult Literacy Resource Institute and the College of Public and Community Service were invited to meet with the Irish Minister. The representatives from CPCS were: Ernest Best, CPCS alum and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Alliance for Adult Literacy, Professors Lorna Rivera, Deborah Schwartz, and Elaine Ward, Director, Center for Immigrant and Refugee Community Leadership and Empowerment (Circle). The panelists addressed adult literacy policies and practices in the United States and how to strengthen bridges between adult literacy, higher education and workforce development. The discussion also focused on the impact of adult learners' voices on policy and practice, the need for transitional programming from adult literacy to higher education, the costs and benefits of prioritizing workplace education and the role of employers, the uses of distance learning, and the impact of federal policies such as Welfare Reform and the Workforce Investment Act on low-income adult literacy programming. Plans are developing for future collaborations with the National Adult Literacy Agency of Ireland.

Photo by Harry Brett. From left to right: Brian Power, Irish Diplomat to the European Union in Brussels in Education and Youth Affairs; Sile de Valera, Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science; Ann Griffen, Secretary to Minister, Elaine Ward, CPCS; Deborah Schwartz, CPCS & Adult Literacy Resource Institute.

A planned Roxbury building with 46 units of subsidized elder housing will be named “Spencer House,” in honor of CPCS faculty member Marian Spencer of the Gerontology undergraduate program. Spencer, a long-time activist in her neighborhood, is president of Forward, Inc., which is developing three buildings on a three-acre Roxbury site in collaboration with the management company Rogerson Communities. Spencer took part in a ribbon cutting on October 5, 2005 with Mayor Thomas Menino, CPCS Graduate 1988, and other Dignitaries for the first of the three buildings, named Carleton House, which offers 44 subsidized units for people who work in human services and other service-sector jobs. Pictured at the Ribbon cutting Ceremony: Mayor Thomas Menino ('88), Marian Spencer, and Jamie Seagal, President of Rogerson Communities

Professor Amelia Onorato received the “Outstanding Teacher Award” from the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education. Amelia was honored at the MCAE annual conference in Marlborough . This award is a very special honor given to one teacher in Massachusetts every year.

Student Leaders in the Field
Thirteen students, representing six countries and more than ten different languages, went on a research trip to Queens, New York. The trip was hosted by former CPCS faculty member, Madhulika Khandelwal, now Professor and Director of Queens College's Asian/American Center. The group visited with immigrant community based organizations, places of worship, and ethnic restaurants, and Ellis Island 's Immigration Museum. Students commented that the trip not only “gave us an opportunity to talk and share ideas with one another” but also to “share one another's cultures” and “learn about the history of immigrants in this country” as well as learn about “growing immigrant communities being successful in Queens ”. Students went on to comment how the trip helped them gain knowledge and experience which they can put into practice in their communities here in Boston. “From the visit to the South Asian Youth Action (SAYA), I really learned about the youth, this is an issue I want to work on here”, “with the historical information from Ellis Island I can write a good paper on current immigration policy”.

As part of its Leadership Institute, CIRCLE hosts research trips to immigrant and refugee community organizations in Boston. This is our first trip out of state. We hope it will be the first of many.

Students: Nicole Albert, Blanca Barrantes, Danh Huynh, Jean Joseph, Beverly Kerr, Faduma Maour, Agnes Nansubuga, Alfred Pierre Noel, Lamos Paul, Ronald Paul, Marie-Banatte Simon, Andrea Souza, and Fritz St. Louis.