4N.
Blount St. Suite 200 Raleigh, NC 27601 tel:
919.835.1525
|
History of El Pueblo, Inc. |
| 1994 |
| In May of 1994, a group of 30 people met informally to plan a local Latin American Festival in Chapel Hill. The first Fiesta del Pueblo was held on September 18, 1994 and was attended by approximately 3,500 people at the Lincoln Center of Chapel Hill. The festival featured 57 food, crafts, and nonprofit vendors, a four-game soccer tournament, music and dancing. The committee’s vision was “to hold a festival that was free and open to the public, to provide safe recreation, sharing of information, and increased collaboration among the Latin American community and its supporters.” (History of El Pueblo, Inc. 1996) |
| 1995 |
| On July 21, 1995, John Herrera filed El Pueblo’s Articles of Incorporation. The volunteers formed a Board of Directors, with Steve Carbo as President, and adopted the following mission statement: “El Pueblo, Inc. facilitates community and bridge-building within the Hispanic/Latino communities as well as with other communities of North Carolina. This is accomplished through advocacy, education, communication, empowerment, and promoting the interests and meeting the needs of the Hispanic/Latino community.” |
| 1996 |
| After another successful Fiesta, which expanded to two days, El Pueblo hosted its first Leadership Development workshop, funded by the organization’s first grant from the Triangle Community Foundation. Sixty-five Latino leaders met in March at Camp New Hope to discuss fundraising, facilitating meetings, working with the media, and strategic planning. The keynote speaker was Arturo Vargas of NALEO in California. |
| 1997 |
| Katie Pomerans
was elected El Pueblo’s Board President and was instrumental
in developing the organization’s fundraising plans through both
grant writing and corporate sponsorships. In 1997, La Fiesta moved to Chapel Hill High School, drawing more than 10,000 participants. |
| 1999 |
| In December 1999,
El Pueblo hired its first Executive Director, Andrea Bazán
Manson. Originally from Argentina, Andrea was one of the founding
members of El Pueblo and served as Vice President of the Board prior
to her tenure at El Pueblo’s helm. The Board also elected retired police officer Hilton Cancel as the Board President. Hilton and Andrea guided the organization for six years. |
| 2000 |
| El Pueblo’s
first fully-funded programs were started in 2000. A fair housing initiative
focusing on landlord/tenant issues was funded by HUD and the new youth
program received a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation titled
“Race Will Not Divide Us.” With its primary focus on advocacy and lobbying, El Pueblo moved to a new office at the Longview Center in Raleigh – just five blocks from the General Assembly. This would be the organization’s home for four years. |
| 2001 |
| With input from
more than 300 experts and advocates, El Pueblo developed the first
NC Latino Legislative Agenda. Education, Health, and Safety were listed
as top priorities for the Latino community. This year the organization
also launched its Nuestra Seguridad Highway Safety Campaign and posted
a North Carolina Latino Artists Directory on its website. El Pueblo also honored former President Katie Pomerans by creating the Katie Pomerans Latino Service Award, given annually to a person or organization that demonstrates tireless advocacy on behalf of North Carolina’s Latino community. |
| 2003 |
| Partnering with
Student Action with Farmworkers, El Pueblo’s first Latino Legislative
Day drew more than 2,000 participants to the NC General Assembly to
advocate on issues of education, driver’s licenses, and farm
labor conditions. El Pueblo’s growth started to put a strain on its events and office space. After seven years at Chapel Hill High School, La Fiesta moved to the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. |
| 2004 |
| As programs such as the Lideres de Salud Lay Health Advisor Initiative and the Comunidad Sana Breast Cancer Awareness program continued to add to El Pueblo’s staff, the organization found a new, larger home on the second floor of the American Legion building on Blount St. in Raleigh. |
| 2005 |
| This year marked
El Pueblo’s toughest legislative fight to date. The highly controversial
bill HB1183 was introduced into the NC general assembly, with the
aim of granting in-state tuition status to undocumented students who
had lived in North Carolina for four or more years and had graduated
from a North Carolina high school. Although the bill did not pass,
El Pueblo welcomed the open, and sometimes brutally honest, dialogue
that resulted regarding the larger question of Comprehensive Immigration
Reform. 2005 also saw the departure of El Pueblo’s first Executive Director, Andrea Bazán Manson. Andrea accepted a position as President of the Triangle Community Foundation, the foundation which gave El Pueblo its very first grant in 1996. |
| 2006 |
| In January 2006, M. Zulayka Santiago, previously the Youth Program
Director took the reins as El Pueblo’s new Executive Director,
with support from El Pueblo’s new Board President, Dr. Peter
Morris. During this time of transition, the organization as a whole also began to undergo significant changes in response to criticisms about its lack of accessibility and presence at the grassroots level. At the same time, there had been an escalation in anti-immigrant policy-making and detentions/deportations at the national, state, and local levels. This crisis in immigration further highlighted the need for El Pueblo to make a major shift towards community organizing, coalition building, and collaborative approaches to movement building. In response, Executive Director Zulayka Santiago dedicated significant time and effort in traveling across the state to meet with different community leaders and organizers through a “Listening Tour.” This Listening Tour affirmed the organization’s decision to challenge itself to be more collaborative and present within the community. El Pueblo’s staff and Board of Directors also began a series of retreats to question the organization's principles of advocacy, coalition building, connectedness to the grassroots community, statewide reach, and sustainability. Opportunities to operationalize these emerging principles presented themselves during the mass actions in the Spring of 2006 when the organization had an opportunity to support a grassroots-led mobilization for immigration reform and an end to anti-immigrant state legislation. Also, in the Fall of 2006, the organization’s Advocacy Initiative designed and implemented a new legislative agenda-building model and held six Legislative Assemblies and met with over 125 community members to identify their priorities for themselves, their families, and their communities. The results of these meetings formed the basis for the 2007-2008 Latino Legislative Agenda. Overall, the lessons learned over the course of 2006 stressed the need for El Pueblo to strike a more deliberate balance between timely yet inclusive decision-making in the political arena; and proactive and reactive response mechanisms at the local and statewide levels. |
| 2007 |
| This year saw a continuation of El Pueblo’s internal examination
of its values and principles as they are manifested within an increasingly
intensifying socio-political environment. 2007 marked a dramatic escalation in the debate around immigration reform that sparked major controversy both within immigrant communities and the public at-large. Ultimately, the U.S. Congress walked away from negotiations leaving immigrant communities more vulnerable to state and local anti-immigrant policy-making and a drastic increase in raids and deportations. This year, there have been raids in several counties throughout North Carolina (both door-to-door and workplace), an increase in the number of Sheriff’s Departments taking on the role of immigration enforcement agents, and an impending 2008 state legislative session that is likely to see a wave of anti-immigrant proposals. In the Spring of 2007, the organization’s Executive Director, Zulayka Santiago, formally announced her resignation and helped launch an organizational and leadership transition process. Her last official day was September 9, 2007 at La Fiesta del Pueblo. |
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