Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center honored lifelong community activist and leader Jaime Delgado on Tuesday, April 9th with the 2013 C.A.R.E.S. Award. Since 2006, the award has honored local leaders who espouse and enact the organization's core values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Excellence and Service (C.A.R.E.S.) during their work on behalf of the community.  The award has been presented annually to community leaders who have shown deep commitment to community service and community engagement.

 

Jaime Delgado has been a leader in public health initiatives in Humboldt Park and city wide addressing health issues such as HIV-AIDS and diabetes from the perspective of the community and not from that of medical providers. 

 

He currently serves as Project Director of "Block-by-Block: The Humboldt Park Diabetes Empowerment Center." Under his leadership, the organization addresses the growing diabetes crisis in Humboldt Park.  "Our goal is to improve the health of everyone in the community by empowering people to help themselves through knowledge, resources, support, and self-determination," said Delgado. The Humboldt Park Diabetes Empowerment Center has been on the cutting edge of community engagement health since its inception.

 

Former La Voz writer Jonathan Rosa's mother, Kathleen Anne Rosa, passed away on Sunday, April 7 in Rochester, NY. She is survived by her children, Jonathan, Gilbert, and Vanessa, as well as her grandchildren, Taylor and Izabella. She was born in Toronto, Canada on September 21, 1951. Kathleen lived in the U.S. for more than 50 years and was married to Gilbert Rosa (1948-2004) for 29 years. Her faith, love, and activist spirit - she never pursued U.S. citizenship in protest of U.S. military imperialism in Vietnam and elsewhere - inspired Jonathan's work with La Voz and the PRCC throughout his time in Chicago. A private memorial for Kathleen will be held in Toronto in June 2013. Jonathan can be reached at jdrosa1@gmail.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

We are proud recipients of United Way contributions 

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center will continue its 40th Anniversary Jornada with a presentation of two important books tomorrow, Thursday, April 11th at 6:30pm at Casa Puertorriqueña located at 1237 N. California. Tickets are $20 and includes dinner and a copy of "Oscar López Rivera: Between Torture and Resistance."

 

The other book is Matt Meyers' "We Have Not Been Moved", a compendium of the past 3 decades of social change in the United States including anti-militarist, anti-racist, and anti-colonial struggles. The book is narrated by some of the most important protagonists of the social movements including Angela Davis, Fred Ho, Mumia Abu Jamal, Audre Lorde, Dave Dellinger, among others. It also includes an interview with Jose E. López, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. The second book is a collection of letters by Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera edited by well-known Puerto Rican sociologist Dr. Luis Nieves Falcon as well as a prologue by South African Archbishop Desmund Tutu. Both editors will speak about the work and sign books. 

 

The program will also include a special presentation by the Puerto Rican musician Fernando "Fernandito" Ferrer, whose song about Oscar López Rivera is included in a new CD from Puerto Rico that includes some of the island's most important musicians such as Andy Montañez, Lucecita Benítez, Danny Rivera, Roy Brown and many more. The CD will also be on sale at the dinner.

 

Saturday April 13, from 9-12noon at Roberto Clemente High School a community forum on immigration with Congressman Luis Gutiérrez will take place. 

 

In addition, there will be a discussion panel with Emma Lozano, Centro Sin Fronteras & Jose E. López, Puerto Rican Cultural Center. There would also be workshops on immigration action, youth health, employment, and education.

Do you qualify for rental assistance?

• Homeless?
• About to be homeless?
• Falling behind in rent?
• Need a security deposit and first month's rent?

Eligibility for Assistance:

• Resident of Humboldt Park or Logan Square
• Seeking housing in the Humboldt Park and Logan Square community
• Behind on rent

For more information, please contact Melissa Rodríguez at 773.227.7794.

  'FRAME-UP! -Unjust Incarcerations' featuring Felix Masud-Piloto  (Cuban-American and DePaul professor), Mark Clements (Campaign to End Torture -himself tortured, framed-up,  and unjustly imprisoned for 28 years), and Nancy Kurshan (author, 'Out of Control: The 15 Year Battle against Prison Control Units') and José E. López, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and brother of Oscar López Rivera. 

April 24, Wednesday 6pm, Casa de Cultura Calles y Suenos, 1900 S. Carpenter

 

The CIRILO W. MEIJERS Comerio Cultural Center has dedicated its 33rd FESTIVAL JIBARO COMERIEÑO (June 7-9) to the Puerto Rican community of Chicago, represented by the Puerto Rican Cultural Center Juan Antonio Corretjer of Chicago. In addition, they recognize that the tribute would not be complete without dedicating the festival also to Oscar López Rivera. In this spirit they have organized a "Committee to Free Oscar", which has already published a call urging the townspeople to become involved in the campaign to free Puerto Rico's longest held political prisoner.

Nancy Kurshan traveled to Vietnam this past January to join in the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords that ended what the Vietnamese refer to as the American War. She had first traveled to Hanoi, North Vietnam in 1970 as part of an anti-war delegation. At that time such travel was forbidden by the U.S. Government. This year the Vietnamese government invited peace activists who had visited during the war to return for the celebration. Nancy was thus able to fulfill a lifelong dream of meeting the incredible Madame Nguyen Thi Binh who sat across the table from Henry Kissinger as a chief Vietnamese negotiator of the Peace Accords. In addition, she also had the opportunity to meet the current President of Vietnam, President Truong Tan Sang. 

 

Nancy Kurshan & Madame Binh

 

Importantly, she was also witness to the incredible pain and suffering inflicted on the Vietnamese by the American War when she visited two schools for children who are victims of Agent Orange. The impact of those chemicals upon generation after generation of Vietnamese is enormous. Other horrendous effects have been caused by unexploded ordnance as people, many of them children, have been killed or maimed in the countryside. After a war that took 3.5 million Vietnamese lives followed by a 15 year U.S.-imposed embargo, Vietnam is nonetheless a beautiful and vibrant nation. On this trip, Nancy was able to cross over what was once the Demilitarized Zone that separated the north from the south, and enter a united, independent Vietnam. The following interview was on Vietnamese television this past January. 

Nancy Kurchan on Vietnamese TV

Michael McConnell, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Regional Director, died late Sunday afternoon, April 7, 2013 in Chicago, after a long struggle with cancer.

 

Michael was a passionate and creative leader in AFSC and with many partners in building our programs to challenge war and preparations for war, while lifting up alternatives. He was one of our chief thinkers and strategists to work on ending war and violent response to conflict, from developing the " Wide Open" campaign to our current F-35 campaign on military spending.  He supported creative and effective programs dealing with healing justice, immigrant rights, peace, and economic justice across the region and the whole of AFSC, nurturing leadership qualities among staff and championing opportunities for young people to engage in AFSC work and gain knowledge, skills and passion for peace with justice.  Michael's legacy is deep and enduring.

Intro to Be the Generation Bridge

The BTG Bridge is an initiative of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a component of the National Institutes of Health, to establish relationships with communities most impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to promote awareness, understanding, dialogue, and support for biomedical HIV prevention research. This Initiative initially arose from the urgent need for an effective, preventive HIV vaccine and has recently expanded to include other biomedical prevention strategies. The Puerto Rican Cultural Center- Vida/SIDA is one of several organizations nationwide to receive funding from the Be the Generation Bridge to help increase awareness and knowledge of biomedical HIV prevention research specifically among Latino communities in the U.S. 

Why is biomedical HIV prevention research important for our community?

Latinos continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. According to the CDC in 2009, Latinos accounted for 20% of new HIV infections in the United States while representing approximately 16% of the total U.S. population. In Chicago, Latinos accounted for 19% of new HIV infections and had a slightly higher AIDS diagnosis rate than Whites.

 

HIV/AIDS is a complex health issue that can only be addressed through a comprehensive approach using diverse methods of prevention and treatment. Biomedical HIV prevention research focuses the development of new strategies to prevent the spread of HIV through several modalities that include: (1) HIV vaccines, (2) gels, creams, foams, and other products that can be applied to the vagina or rectum prior to sexual intercourse known as Microbicides, (3) Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) which requires the daily use of drugs to treat HIV (antiretrovirals) by HIV-negative people at high risk of infection as a way to avoid HIV, and (4) Treatment as Prevention (TaP), an approach that involves the use of antiretroviral drugs by HIV-positive people to reduce their viral load which helps lower the risk of HIV transmission to others 

 

Finding a vaccine to prevent HIV

Every 9.5 minutes, someone in the U.S. is infected with HIV. There is no cure for HIV. Once people are infected, most of them eventually need to stay on treatment for the rest of their lives. A vaccine to prevent HIV could help save millions of lives worldwide and billions of dollars in HIV treatment costs.

 

There are clinical trials taking place worldwide to find a vaccine that may prevent HIV and one of those clinical trial sites is here in Chicago! Clinical trials involve some risks, but there is no risk of getting HIV from preventive vaccines tested in people. HIV vaccine research is essential in the fight against HIV/AIDS, along with prevention, treatment and care. It's important for all groups and ethnicities to be involved in the research so that a vaccine that works for everyone can be developed. 

Over the past month, we have secured donations, in-kind and monetary, totaling over $8,000 to ensure that the students, staff, and facilitators can present at the AERA Conference in San Francisco, California on Tuesday, April 30.

Again, thank you for your kind generosity. We will be sharing conference updates and reflections when we return. 

 Read on...

 ARCC 3rd Annual Town Hall Forum and Dissemination Workshop April 17: Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) 3015 W. Division St. Town Hall (9-11:30 am): Opportunity to give input into ARCC programs and services. Workshop (12-1:30pm): The program is free.

  

Examples of how community-academic partnerships can disseminate project information and findings to community and academic audiences. Featuring presentations by community-academic teams. RSVP: ARCC@northwestern.edu.