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ACLAMO Family Centers Newsletter
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Providing our community with the services and skills for success
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FEBRUARY 20141
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Four-year-old Natalie painting her favorite fish
at our Family Literacy program.
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From The Executive Director:
The seemingly endless snowstorms this winter do have a silver lining, horticul-turalists are saying that the coming thaw should be bring forth a spectacular spring.
So it is at ACLAMO, as challenges become opportunities. Adelante, our new education program for middle school students, is now growing into its second year. Our Board has also expanded and our partnerships with area schools and corporations continue to blossom.
This May, we will once again hold our Faces of Hope benefit along with our yearly Family Literacy graduation ceremony. We hope this year's event is a great success as we rely on your help to make it bountiful.
We are forever grateful for your help. Gracias!
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COME CELEBRATE WITH US!! | |
Mexican dancers perform at last year´s Faces of Hope.
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Mark your calendars for ACLAMO's Fifth Annual Faces of Hope benefit breakfast, which will be held on May 20th. Dr. F. Javier Cevallos, President of Kutztown University, will be our honored guest and will join us in recognizing the children and mothers of our Family Literacy Program.
The work of many volunteers will be needed to make this event a success and there are a number of possible ways you can help. Please use the below link to find out more. We will send you various suggestions for how you can participate and you can select the way you wish!
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ACLAMO BOARD GROWS
Last month saw changes and additions to the ACLAMO Board. While remaining as a key Board member, Eduardo Nieto completed a very successful tenure as President and Houghton Kane was elected as the new President. A long time ACLAMO supporter and Board member, Kane will be retiring from his current position as Associate Professor at Ursinus College and will be dedicating much of his time to volunteer work with the Board.
In addition, two new Board members were elected, Marisol Perez and Edith Fuentes-Moskal. Perez is a Philadelphia based architect and realtor, who brings to the Board impressive organizational skills, born out of extensive experience running her own business. Perez will be the principal organizer of Faces of Hope 2014.
Fuentes-Moskal, who is Assistant Director of Calvary Baptist Children´s Learning Center, brings to the Board her graduate study and experience in Early Childhood Education. Living not far from ACLAMO´s Norristown location, she knows many of the families served by ACLAMO and the needs of the surrounding community.
Please see the links above for more information on these individuals.
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BRYN MAWR AND ACLAMO MOVE "ADELANTE" INTO 2015
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Bryn Mawr students, Sri and Sandra, help Adelante students, Richard and Britney, test the characteristics of pressure by creating a vacuum between two disks and then attempting to pull them apart.
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Nell Anderson, Co-Director of the Bryn Mawr College Civic Engagement Office, and Juan Guerra, ACLAMO´s Executive Director, announced in February that the Pennsylvania Campus Compact Americorps*VISTA grant that supports the Adelante Program has been renewed for the 2014-15 year. When Adelante Coordinator Ana Cordova agreed to remain for the second year of her service with Americorps*VISTA, ACLAMO´s hopes for another successful year of this program became a reality.
With its focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), the Adelante program is designed to identify and support the educational experiences of Latino middle school students. Ana Cordova and a team of Bryn Mawr students focus on a small group of 17 committed students and their parents, to insure careful attention and monitoring of academic progress.
The participation of parents is a critical part of the program. In February, Coordinator Cordova met with parents of the Adelante students at ACLAMO´s Norristown location. Following a lively discussion session, Cordova distributed a confidential survey to determine if the meeting was helpful. "Yes it was," one parent wrote in Spanish, "because it had to do with the future of my child!"
That parent´s comment summarizes perfectly what Adelante - and ACLAMO - are all about!
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RADNOR HIGH ROCKS THE SOCKS! | |
Nicholas Escobar, President of the Hispanic Club of Radnor High, member Nick Brady and advisor Alicia Alfonso distribute new socks to children in the ACLAMO After School Program.
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As their project motto stated, "Radnor High Rocks the Socks!"
Over the last month, the Hispanic Club of Radnor High School held its first sock drive, which collected 265 pairs of socks of all sizes for ACLAMO Family Centers. Club President Nicholas Escobar, member Nick Brady, and advisor Alicia Alfonso delivered the socks on Feb. 24 and helped distribute them to the children in ACLAMO's After School program. "The club is very grateful to the Radnor High language teachers who encouraged their students to donate socks," Escobar said. "We learned that many children often need socks, and socks are especially important during this cold winter. We are very grateful to our friends, teachers and classmates for giving so generously." The Hispanic Club has been working with ACLAMO for the past four years, tutoring children in the After School program and holding collections for food at Thanksgiving and toys during the holidays. The sock drive is new this year and was a great success! "Radnor High School students, faculty, and parents have consistently been very generous toward our families," said Executive Director, Juan Guerra, "We are really thankful for their kind support." |
Personal Profile: Gonzalo Cornejo
GSK VICE PRESIDENT AND ACLAMO
GlaxoSmithKline, international law, and outdoor adventures with his son are three themes which summarize many of the interests of Gonzalo Cornejo.
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Gonzalo and Blas on a 2007 Patagonia adventure.
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After obtaining both a law degree and a master´s degree in international law in his native Peru, Gonzalo enrolled at New York University, where he
received a second master´s in international law at New York University. He then began work for Sterling Drug Inc., which later was acquired by Smithkline Beecham, which in turn merged with Glaxo Wellcome to become the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Throughout these corporate changes, his responsibilities have steadily increased, resulting in Gonzalo´s present position as Vice President and Associate General Counsel at GSK.
While Gonzalo mainly concentrates in the Latin American market, he has also worked in Southeast Asia, China, Africa and Europe and has global expertise in international antitrust, anti-corruption and sanctions and exports control legislation. He regularly participates as a speaker in national and international legal, compliance and regulatory conferences.
Outside of his work, Gonzalo´s primary focus is on his 16-year old son, Blas, who lives in Peru. Each month, Gonzalo spends a week working in Peru so that he can spend quality time with Blas. The two have enjoyed adventures together in Patagonia, the Andes, the Caribbean, the Amazon, and the Galapagos Islands. Blas wants to be a doctor and is doing extremely well right now in school. "Knock on wood!" Gonzalo grins proudly, reaching forward to tap on a table.
Gonzalo became interested in ACLAMO through his work with Conexión Latina, a Latino affinity group in GSK. "My goal is to challenge all Latinos in GSK to become involved in supporting the greater Latino community in the Philadelphia area. There are several really fine groups working with Latinos and ACLAMO is definitely one of them. I want to be sure that everyone in Conexión Latina knows about the opportunities for service which exist at ACLAMO and I look forward to an active participation by our members in ACLAMO!"
"We are grateful to Gonzalo for his great support," comments Houghton Kane, ACLAMO´s Board President. "He is already contributing through the Amigos de ACLAMO Program and we are enthusiastic about the ways we can work with volunteers from Conexión Latina."
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ACLAMO celebrates its 37th year of providing economic, educational, health and cultural opportunities for low-income residents of Norristown and Pottstown, especially those of Spanish language heritage.
ACLAMO stands for Accíon Comunal Latinoamericana de Montgomery County, or Latin American Action of Montgomery County. ACLAMO is derived from the Spanish word "aclamar," which means "to acclaim."
ACLAMO Family Centers ACLAMO Family Centers
512 W. Marshall Street 515 Walnut Street
Norristown, PA 19401 Pottstown, PA 19464
610-277-2570 610-970-2134
aclamo.org
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