Mural Unveiling Ceremony

Mural Unveiling Ceremony

Frog Hollow Heroes

The nine heroes of Frog Hollow are each represented by a mural recognizing their efforts within the community. They have put forth immense dedication to their everyday lives and in turn they have created an on-going impact among the lives of Frog Hollow community members. Though they are all heroes, these note-worthy individuals reach the lives of others through different motives within the community.

The nine heroes chosen for these murals were voted on by the community and SINA. In this process, community members nominated heroes that represented Frog Hollow's community values. Because of the nature of mural making, which is time consuming, only nine murals could be displayed. However, the community and SINA recognize there are more heroes than just those recognized by the murals.

Frog Hollow Oral History Research Team

Ceremony

Trinity College Liberal Arts Action Lab

November 6, 2021

Frog Hollow Oral History Research Team

MP3, JPG, PDF

English

Ceremony

Frog Hollow, Heroes of Frog Hollow, Murals

Heroes of Frog Hollow Project

Park Street Library at the Lyric

Speaker 1 [00:00:01] Thank you for being with us, you've been so patient. I was trying to figure on the amiable woman, and I think it's all right. Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the unveiling ceremony of moister Estonia, your old buret project at the new Parr Street Library at the lyric. My name is going to get any better than no library's branch manager, and I'm very excited to be joining our Here in this country celebration today. Today, we celebrate our front Moodle heroes by honoring them through the various activities in the building and out in the neighborhood where the murals are located. Then, as we study a project was funded by a grant through the Market Foundation for Public giving a community process of nominating and voting took place with the goal of hearing and amplifying these stories. We hope you can all be a part of the second part of the project today, which includes oral history, and there are stations set up on the second floor of the building where you can share the impact these heroes had on your later today. We acknowledge we can be here for an hour or more as their impact is tremendous, and although some are not here in person, they are with us in spirit and you'll see a glimpse into their lives today. I also want to say thank you to the rise of the artists that really brought this project to life and you guys can stand on.



Speaker 2 [00:01:38] Thank you so much, and I I leave you with that.



Unidentified [00:01:40] Melvin from Simon. I'm not from



Speaker 3 [00:01:52] China. Sinai, I want to welcome you and thank you for coming out today to honor our neighborhood bureau. I want to thank my my coworker, Logan fingerprint, who developed this marvelous idea with a group of like minded coconspirators. And I've had the pleasure. Well, before I do this, I just want to make sure that I think both Logan International with a big round of applause before we.



Unidentified [00:02:27] I can tell you what a



Speaker 3 [00:02:28] pleasure to work with someone like my living and working with myself and my wife on this project. I've had the pleasure of being in sign up for nine years, but the sign has been a part of the neighborhood for 43 years. We've been a part of the development of Gaza and Mankato, the learning quarter, and we worked closely for many years with Broad Park Development Corporation report for this story. Right now, we're creating homeownership opportunities. We're not going back to the neighborhood people who grew up here or in other parts of our group or want the work program is working to place neighborhood residents entry level jobs. These institutions that form this line of partnership Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children's and Community College. As a member of the board in the Hartford Public Library, I'm proud to be standing here with Coursera, the library director and the rest of the staff of the library. I'm proud that we are honoring a fellow board member, Arnold Barrow, who was a major force in getting that branch building and support those who develop many programs that reach every group and constituency in this community and who gave the children of this community a place to explore the countless possibilities within the reach. We're also honoring three people with whom I have worked and who I am proud to know or have known. Yes, can borrow and consume and work and develop. I also want to acknowledge that we have among us today David Barrett, who is the president of the Board of the of the Hartford Public Library. And another big concern that I will introduce another dignitary that I'll introduce. If you're someone telling the tale of the hero's journey is one of the ways that our collective storytelling transforms broken stories into written stories. The written stories of Gilgamesh Odysseus relive the stories of Aztec kings and the heroes of our kneeling African people. All are part of who we are today. Today, we will hear a small part of the hero's journey of nine people. Please know that there are many more neighborhood heroes that we did not get a chance to feature in the murals. We had to narrow down the project and we didn't want to fill up the walls of every building in the neighborhood with the murals of other folks. But there were lots of people that were nominated and who could easily have been in those murals as well. Today's event to unveil the three murals murals in honor of the nine neighborhood heroes, as I indicated, represents part one of capturing the history of the neighborhood. We're also developing a neighborhood history tour based on interviews in which we'll be asking you to participate. We're lucky to have an institution like Trinity College right in our own backyard. Their Action Class lab with Professor Kamala Harris is doing oral histories, collecting stories that will add to the history of the neighborhood, and that with the work of Professor Amanda Guzman, also from Trinity College, will become part of an interactive bilingual English and Spanish digital tour of the neighborhood of the history of the neighborhood. And we expect that this project will launch on mail in the summer of 2022. In closing, I'd like to issue a call to action. I want to remind everyone that we create history every day. Our collective commitment to action to fight for our rights, to fight for justice, to preserve our assets and our rich cultural heritage, and to safeguard the future of our children will become the history that will be celebrated 40 years from now. Thank you. And I'd like to ask Mayor Brown. And although he's not in the program, I'd like to ask. We want to say a few words.



Speaker 4 [00:06:30] Good morning, everyone, thank you so much, Melbourne. Thank you. It is, it is such a joy to see this beautiful new library filled with so many people who have given so much of this community to celebrate others who are true heroes of this community. And I I just want to say there's no better place to hold this celebration and this unveiling than this library, because I think almost every single one of the heroes were being honored in these murals and honored in this program today had a role to play in creating this library and whether it was decades ago or whether it was in the recent years and months and all of them were so grateful. You cannot move around from home without seeing the legacy, seeing the work of the people who are being honored today and to every single one of those honorees. We're thankful our community is so proud and and I love this project, this longer project to really tell the story, to tell the history and celebrate the frog hollow neighborhood, the rich history, the incredible contributions, the beautiful diversity, the amazing culture that is in this community. And at a time when so many cities and so many states are debating who deserves monuments, what history needs to be told. I think it's something we should be enormously proud of that as a community, we come together to tell the stories that we know need to be told to lift up those heroes whose whose contribution to this community cannot be questioned and cannot be challenged, and to lift them up so that every child in this neighborhood can walk by those beautiful murals on their way to this library, on the way to school, on the way to church, on the way to the store and see true heroes who can be role models for them. So again, to everybody was a part of this to rise up and to the artists, to Hartford Public Library to sign up to the front hall in our city and for many, many others. Thank you for doing this work. Thank you for lifting up the amazing people who lift up our city and our community. And God bless you all. Thank you for.



Speaker 3 [00:09:05] All right, we're. Going back to our programing before we start off with a brief history of the neighborhood in we at, we saw that come up in we.



Unidentified [00:09:16] Typekit involved in.



Speaker 2 [00:09:32] Good day, and I'm compelled to just say other things, your things, your own things, you know, and I'm starting that like that because one of my kids from Ball Park I saw him earlier is a firefighter, and that's how I used to start taking the kids out just before nine o'clock over the things to let them know we're about to close. But in this case, we're about we're about to go out and see some beautiful girls. My name is Scott Coco. Thank you very much for inviting me. The I'm supposed to give a quick historical context on Protocollo. This is not an academic exercise for that. You have some wonderful tomes that I hope can be that are here probably now. Opportunity, Susan Campbell's book but at the same time, Dr. Raymundo Rojas that his Ph.D. dissertation on the neighborhood and interviewed a lot of people from the neighborhood. So I would encourage the library to if they have a copy of that on, you know, all sorts of people can come and read it. I really appreciate the mayor's and Melvin's words on the act of constantly capturing stories because I would be. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that, as you know, Humana's as someone who should be there. But what I will give is my own experience of history with and none of this neighborhood, as many people can see, are the wonderful factory buildings that are around that are now occupied by state or whatever that there was a big push for manufacturing, particularly import a lot of hope, bicycles of which the park is named after. And with that came the incredible housing that you see in the signature perfect six that we might see of. Like on site is what I and those as you walk around, you can see like the French words on the church over there. So there are a lot of French people. The church over here on Babcock was Portuguese, a wonderful Portuguese community. Workers for these factories and the Portuguese community eventually moved further west, particularly in the church overall for a new Park Avenue. And then there, there, there, the cultural center there, their community center is more than Newington, but very rich community. And as we see as we look at the eventual migration of people, the park. So you can also see part build over that and especially with the Portuguese influence there, followed by Brazilians who went where the language was the same manner. Well, what did we see here? We see Puerto Ricans come by the truckload of by the boatloads and the airplane loads, and particularly because like you make a little restaurant as the one founding institution. Obviously, they had the original one in Clay Hill. Before that, we closed on Main Street. That whole year is being redeveloped thanks to like someone sooner. But I think McKinnell too is further down right there at the after, after the Puerto Ricans. And you can remember all the restaurants here, where in many markets used to be a wonderful little restaurant owned by some friends of ours and Sacred Heart Church, who hired a young man by the name of Victor Pacheco to do a mural on the wall and then because they lived across the street from this abandoned space, the owner paid sabbatical to paint a mural out in front because that's what they're looking at all all the time and they're open, you know, 13 hours a day. So that became what I don't know I saw in human life. Do you have on the Victor Pacheco bureaus in here? The library took that instead of like thrashing, it brought it to the old space and it's in the news space. So kudos to the library leadership and the library and the library people for having the forethought to keep these paintings, which were done later. These but also Victor Boucek, those original work. Victor is now wonderful artist living, working and teaching in the Worcester area after the Puerto Rico. Not because we're still here came the dominicans. The Dominicans came up from New York, and one really great thing about the Dominican influx was that when they came merchants and they took over the restaurants and stuff, they saw that the city really didn't have any like policies for late night openings. So they were up until three. So what's better than Lenny at the the club hitting the spot to get into town on the border with local news in the morning and work through that at that point became such a lively spot. I don't know if people remember nineteen ninety nine people, many of all races Oscar De La Hoya at 1:00 in the morning. This was impossible. The same like when you see when you see, like Brazilians and Italians in the World Cup, our farming scenario becomes incredibly like a third place for those people at the time. So just that I couldn't even get across town because I saw the game here and I had to get to the North Miami, and it was this crazy circus park that participate in my lap. It's all the same. Like with the cartoon festival. What happens leading up to that actually becomes a space to me. Then comes Cap, the Central American Free Trade Agreement. All right. Just took just before laughter, and it's in a lot of small farmers out of their spaces in Mexico because now the corn that they grow is more expensive than the corn that we have. We subsidize to bring over there. So now they're coming up here in droves. And when you start to see what what happens when new people come here, their food comes here and we see wonderful new eateries and it's just an incredible that's one of the things that I really love about this city. And one thing that I will put up against any city. It's it's a baked goods tradition. Where else can you go and get Italian pastries, Portuguese pastries, Argentinian pastries? I was at 6:30 in the morning and so laboring in this morning like, where else can you do that? But Hartford, that has had. Incompatible communities come together in close proximity. Franklin, I grew up this way. You can't vote that way. Hard street down this way as as the bridge to those two. And so and so that's my own experience or whatever. In 1994, I had the pleasure of being that also for really incredible site specific project called Involvedin Almost a bona fide the almost surreal, which was held right here. The barbershop is no longer there, but it was a it was a living examination of matches for the Puerto Rican community. Latino community. Puerto Rican is the microbe. But how can this day and age of patriarchy and like men need to really own up to there to how they treat and treat women, but also like how they navigate in this world? We were having those discussions in 1994 right here. This was a year or two after Hartford was having like 50 homicides because in that time it was the silence. And it was a solid and the Latin Kings. And in the 80s I grew up in the Northeast and I grew up on boys. We like to come down here and the little ghetto brothers and a lot. Guilt by association really didn't come up this way, except for the passing muscle. So they came for including that wonderful photo, like one point was we still don't know. One of my first performances was as I wave on on on the stage for the poetry festival. And again, this is not a academic exercise. I love this space. I love this space as the street in the corridor. I love that this is finally happening. Currently, I work for the state arts agency Tare mass Cultural Council. I manage the Cultural District program. I work with 51 communities across the Commonwealth, walking spaces up and down and giving them thoughts on what they have. And Park Street, Hartford was one of them, and I know Connecticut recently passed on legislation to do this, and they have the first one down in Richfield, but I signed it up in the second. But with that, I thank you all so very much for being with me and



Speaker 1 [00:18:07] thank you so much for.

Speaker 1 [00:00:00] She is one of the people that are being honored today. One of the murals that we have in all that he wants here in honor of another could only be a complete stand up and just what it was. Thank you so much for being here today. Albert Shulman, Albert Parafilm and work as an advocate for those in need and the underprivileged. She led a full life of service to the community, including employment as a drug counselor, family and youth counselor therapist who was the coordinator for Northern Connecticut for the Cuban Refugee Entrance Program, community educator and as a medical social worker for the city of Hartford, where she started as a supervisor in the Maternity Infant Outreach Program. But I want to hear from all of these and that. And a fair amount of funding happens to be here today with us. I mean, you stand up



Unidentified [00:01:00] their own Parafilm Nitric acid, the champions of L.A. and



Speaker 1 [00:01:04] over the last few years she was instrumental in making that vision possible while serving on the library's board after decades of persistence. The new Park Street library had the lyric open this October, so thank you for everything you do. George, even after going up in a poor neighborhood in Puerto Rico, George B might have decided to dedicate his life to help troubled children and their families strive for a better life. With an extensive education and law in the hope of many willing talented people, he founded Mikasa, which is right across the street. In 1991, in order to foster a healthier, caring, supportive community, those who are here in honor of George, please stand up. Let me set with you, sir. We are known as lady. She served for 12 years as the branch manager of the Hartford Public Libraries Park branch before serving as the branch manager that you would help family members. She opened up love with her family members. She opened up all of a sudden someone in a coffeehouse and bookstore at the corner of Temple Avenue and Bedford Street. And she's here joining us today. But you are you. There's no doubt all the youth are our future is the mantra often repeated by Yossi Gunbattle, whose life is dedicated to educating and guiding young people. She fell in love with friend when she arrived as a 13 year old from the Dominican Republic and has been engaged. Has been an engaged community member ever since then. I know he is here today and those who are here and honor



Unidentified [00:02:46] Jeffrey Methylene chloride.



Speaker 1 [00:02:54] Reverend Julie Ramey, there's the Reverend Julie nominators commonly known as Sister Julie and the Devil of Hartford. Within the Latin next Pentecostal community was the founder and senior pastor of Faith Temple of the Assemblies of God for 53 years. Sister Julie was a tireless community servant of Profilo, as in other parts of the city of Hartford, caring for America, primarily for its Latin population as a defender of the Latin immigrant, whoever's here forever. Julie Ramirez, please stand up. One point does and I know he's here with us today. He was known for his photography, particularly his documentation of the Puerto Rican community of Hartford. When does art was exhibit locally, nationally and in Puerto Rico? He published his journalistic and photographic work in community and major newspapers. He worked with Hartford schools and community organizations. And he taught photography to students and seniors and Lucy's here with us today, who ever appeared on



Unidentified [00:03:58] our program this week for more. You.



Speaker 1 [00:04:08] These are the artists from Rise Up, and I'm going to continue to play this throughout the day today, but please, as we have mentioned earlier, there's a second part to this project. Please go upstairs. There's like three different groups being utilized to capture oral histories. We have pictures and things for Monte Cristo, and that's in a cafe area. Feel free to walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the murals.



Speaker 2 [00:04:34] And actually, before we before we do the reunion that we agree on a few words from a musical family or the first one, we felt their film here. So we're going to start with Maria Sanchez



Unidentified [00:04:46] and we like that. And when? And you know



Speaker 2 [00:04:54] that



Speaker 3 [00:04:54] it seems like yesterday, but when I was a young teacher recruited by Maria Sanchez to come work in the City Auditorium and the Hartford Public Schools, I mean, you said I know the time is short and we only have a few minutes. It was, as you say, something about Maria. And that was. It's so hard to say something, I mean, just a few short minutes, but I will try my best. Maria was part of a group of women that I knew very well Sara, Romany, Olga, merely as they met, and they were a group of women that were way ahead of their time, and they were trying to establish the kind of institution that would support our growing community. We started with, you know, tobacco companies hiring Puerto Ricans, Tobacco Valley and some of them slowly working their way into the city of Hartford to work royal typewriter. And you would get back for union jobs and the economy was growing, but in the school system. They didn't know how to handle the Hartford Public Schools, didn't know how to handle our kids, our kids were Spanish speaking kids, so if you were a well behaved kid, they let you sit in the back of the room and they just promoted you until you left and you graduated and didn't learn much. But you know, if you were what we had kids, you could just be graduated socially. If you were and seemed like I was a Typekit, it was always A. If you were nervous that you just didn't want to sit still, then they would put you in a special education class and say, you know, there's something psychologically wrong with you or they wouldn't suspend you and we're fighting. They would expel you from the school so that that was not working for our community. Maria Sanchez put together a group of people to say, Listen, we need to bring people that understand our culture and our language. And Maria got some federal funding for a program called Teacher Corps and in conjunction with the University of Hartford, brought in a group of 30 bilingual teachers. And I was part of that group, that first group that came in, Maria and the community leaders saw what was needed, and they said, We need people that are going to teach our kids are going to be sensitive, not only know the language, but also the culture. And there were twenty seven of us. There were Spanish and Peruvian Puerto Ricans, but we also had a couple of Italian bilingual teachers. We had a Portuguese by as your main. And we came in and Maria Tare mass, he said, Listen, we're hiring you. But. When we train you as teachers at UVA, you can hire you as teachers in our public schools, are you going to be more than teachers? We don't want you to take your paycheck, move to the suburbs and forget about us. We want you to be active in the community. And she always made sure that we're politically active. Now, Mary was not a woman with education. She maybe had like a fifth or sixth grade education, but that doesn't mean that she was a smart lady. You know, I told her she was had three doctorate degree from the University of Life because that woman was shot four years. I voted for middle school on Albany Avenue, right across from her Little Marias newsstand on Albany, and that was like community center before community centers existed that she was like a social worker there. People would come to Maria's newsstand, where she sold candies to the neighborhood. Kids and people would come with their problems of the gas company, the light company, whatever the issue was, housing problems, employment problems and Maria was made sure that people got the services that they need that they needed. So she was up there like a real community organizer. And there's just, you know, the program was successful. We established a bilingual program. You know, things happen in the community prospered. And now you see the Puerto Rican community. A lot of professionals live in Manchester that he's hard for the most part, and they're all over the place. And there's still a large presence right here in Hartford. But like, like we sort of said, you know, other communities like the Dominican Bruins, Colombians have come in and the community's changed. And in a way, it's a success. It's a success story, although there's still a lot of our people that are caught in poverty, too. But there's one last thing I want to say about Maria. When Maria Sanchez, we have a thing for the town committee, which people run for the company. They elect the liaison between the elected officials and the community people, and she loved being with him. And I remember saying, you know, we need you to be an elected official. She was the first woman to be elected and she ran for the Board of Education and I worked better campaign if she was elected. He loved education. And and she also loved being a town committee member and usually displayed in every neighborhood, you know, 12, 14 people that run. And they they talked to the state representative and tell them what the neighborhood issues are and try to address them in the state statutes. And the state representative was starting to in that district. She lived in the north. Then they started. He started to get jealous of her when he saw how much, how powerful she was. So he left off the list. But she was such a good person, so innocent that she was out there getting signatures to put the team on the ballot. Until somebody said, can I see that? And I start reading through the names and said, Maria, you're getting the signatures to put this team on the ballot. Your name is not on the list of candidates. And she looked at this in a way, and she realized she had been betrayed. And I remember having a conversation with her, I say, Maria, you can beat that state representative, you can beat them. You're the one that has made them. And she decided to run this in 1988, and she decided to run for state representative. And she had this, but you wouldn't believe the first woman elected to the State House of Representatives or senators. Happy to know you're happy that her friend. Happy to be here today with all the people that were mentioning earlier that we have those murals they all richly deserve and deserve to remember and remember our past because it's what really has shaped our prison. Thank you.



Speaker 1 [00:11:18] For another world, those are all we have now. Mary Smith on.



Speaker 4 [00:11:30] Very emotional to be here today. I wasn't sure I'd be here today. We almost lost money. A few days ago.



Speaker 5 [00:11:38] So who knows? And if you wouldn't



Speaker 6 [00:11:42] mind just taking a moment, just a few moments to say thank you to God. Mommy's home. And she's OK.



Speaker 4 [00:11:55] Yeah, great, great, um. She lives in Florida. I was able to come down with her granddaughter, Danielle. I'm a visual artist. I was trained by a local mural, has no borders. I don't know if you know Michael. I'm also born and raised in Hartford. I'm going through Hartford Schools, a product of the bilingual school system. I have been a bilingual teacher for thirty five years, so teaching and I know all of that too. And then they grow. And to this day, I know Mummy hasn't lived here in a while, but I still have people coming up to me saying, Your mom hired me, your mom hired me, and I'm still learning things about her legacy, about Maria Sanchez and all of those pioneers and just amazing, amazing accomplishments they had back when there was nothing here for us or gave nothing. And the fact that in the 1970s there was a politician that said to mommy, you are going to start bilingual education in Hartford and sent her to the island to interview by the Puerto Rican teachers. And they brought actual teachers from the island, something within the north part, as I was just mentioning. And they started the bilingual program here. And many of you know the story of this one and now the bilingual school, the first bilingual school in Hartford and many of those people that went on in some still teaching today. My brother and sister went through that program. We have many professionals that went through the bilingual program. I actually speak four languages now. Spanish was my second language, just a wonderful cultural experience. I went on my first day in the lyric when it was a movie theater. I'm sitting here going, I'm sitting here when I was 14 with my first little boyfriend, and now it's so mommy was very happy to hear that they renovated the building. She loved the idea of renovating buildings. You know, she was the principal that becomes this. She after she had been the bilingual director, by the way, for about eight years, she went back to being a school principal and supervised the renovation of that beautiful building. So the fact that they're keeping the history and obviously the artwork myself, being an artist, we're very, very happy and proud of that. And she was very excited about the mural project. So I just wanted to convey that to you and I have spoken with her recently. She's doing well recovery, but I'm very happy to be here today and proud to be part of this. This story? Mommy came to Hartford. I was born here. You know, like those of us who were born here like this, Hartford is our home. But she came here and she made it her home, and she made it her mission. And the children of Hartford, all of the children, black, white, Hispanic, those were. That was her heart. That was where her love was. The children of Hartford and her legacy was an education. Thank you.



Speaker 5 [00:14:51] And this.



Speaker 1 [00:14:55] The whole presentation of a local showman, we have certainly shown.



Speaker 2 [00:15:07] We're running out of money and we disagree. But what about a little bit of luck? Very convenient. Say thank you very much for the honor for giving you my word. Seldom. Could you see my family's here, go celebrate. This is an important location. I used to come here advancing upstairs in the in the social hall and Saturday night. Many times we had many, many good evenings. But you know, there's one other thing, and that is they never saw somebody in need who had a problem as being healthy and ready many years ago. We had a situation in trouble when your monthly illegals came from Cuba, and the many of them came up to Hartford, and Albert was assigned to find them homes, finding apartments, finding jobs about their health and so forth. And they used to call it might be



Speaker 3 [00:16:21] my colleague and.



Speaker 2 [00:16:23] The godmother of the community, and I remember one night we were having a formal affair and I think it was down to the old Bond Hotel, but Albert was in a gown. I was in a tuxedo with the Saturday night and all of a sudden somebody came over and gave her a message because one of her clients was in distress. One of her clients had an emergency. That client was down to Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown, so I would say, Well, we got to go down there. I said, Oh, it's 12 o'clock or 12:30 in the morning. I said, What are we going to do going down the middle of town? No, she needs us. So we and we hopped in my car and you're not down here in Texas, you. We drove down to Middletown to collect the family hospital to take care of the emergency with. That's the way she gave her life. And to her family, the community, and again, I would just like to thank you all very much for honoring her in this fashion. And I know so far is looking down at this filing. And it feels very strongly about about the feeling that is coming from this group. Thank.



Speaker 1 [00:17:58] And our viewers from on.



Speaker 5 [00:18:14] Just a few words from me that I wasn't going to see in the. Yes. Good morning. Umm hmm. How do I start? I just want to start by saying, I'm so happy to see all of you here this morning, and I know for some of you, this is your first time in this beautiful new facility on Park Street. Let's hear the first time. Wow. We thank you. We have been celebrating this run opening of the library for three weeks already, and I'm so happy that is now serving our community and which is the reason why so many of us for 30, 35 years, what about and talk about the battle for thirty five years? It was just an incredible one, and I'm very happy that we made this happen and done so many to thank them today. Your visit to Afghanistan does not. Pretty soon, you will battle all those opponents on the said from day. You know, the family, you know, many, many, many. All the heroes here were my mentors to three that come to mind when and when and fathers were, where did they go? You know, when I started my volunteer service, I'm hearing this right up, which I belong in very nicely put together the champion of volunteerism. And you know what? I am very proud of being the champion of volunteerism that is one that I advocate constantly to the youth, to everyone, my kids, my family. We have to volunteer. And volunteer has to be number one for all of us, in addition to everything else that we do in our lives and that we have kind of and items, and it is thanks to the volunteerism that I think we are here today, you know, in partnership with the state, the city elected officials because, you know, we all come together to make these projects happen. What I would have to say, volunteers really make it happen, so I remember in my spot on my journey as a volunteer in military intelligence, I will see them. I hear them. I have no idea really what volunteerism meant, but they were my mentors and I said, You are the man that I am and you hear functions and so many others. And so I really think of them as being my mentors. They never knew they were my mentors, just like I know I a. mentor for many, and I don't know what it is, really. You know, one that I'm very proud of. Being a volunteer, I volunteer. I will die. Being a volunteer is top of my list today at every source. OK, I. I coordinate and manage all of the volunteer activities for employees in Connecticut. So talk about. The the the the prize, right given back to me volunteerism gave it to the community has given me so much more. Because it is because of that that I could now have, you know, a day to day job that I do what I enjoy the most that I do. You know that the community employees are my communities. You know, when we change roles at every source, I used to be community related community relations. I specialize here for all of this community. And when I change your role, I said, Oh my God, I'm not serving the community anymore. But guess what? I learned that the employees were my new community. And so I'm always serving the community, and I'm so very happy to be able to do that and have that opportunity. I want to thank Simon and Logan Melvin, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The art is my god. Wow, what a got less than it is to be honored is. A singer, you know, so God bless you all. This is beautiful. You know, this idea has really was borne by many of you that you came together and then the artists really are the ones who I guess made it happen, right? And in order to have this mural, so thank you very much. Thanks everyone in the community who wrote it for us, who voted for me, who really has seen the work that I think, you know, we have been doing quietly. But you know, it's great to know that so many of you have doing on the work that we've been doing right. And thank you for that. And I also want to say to just finish here, that timing is everything. When I was in my thirties and we started working and advocating for this library, which we wanted to be the cultural center for, I think we'll end up with some of it being the cultural center as well as we develop programing here. I said I'm making a big mistake and I in 10 years we should have the new building and that was when I was in my thirties and says, Well, we'll do this before my senior citizen. Well, guess what? We made it happen, and I'm a senior citizen now for you. Believe that? I don't believe it. But timing is everything. Don't give up and stay with your goals to stay with your idea. If you work in a community project and you want to see it happen. Find the right partners don't give up. If there were a few of us who have given up on this project. You know what? I don't think this project would have happened, and I am a hundred percent sure that it would not have not have happened in my lifetime. Maybe another 20 years, but not in October of 2021. So please thank you and congratulations to all my fellow moral heroes and my family. Thank you very much. Young Potassium chloride. When you heard it is always, always a need for a volunteer. So please thank you. Thank you.



Unidentified [00:25:57] And you have



Speaker 1 [00:25:59] a non representation of George P. M. But in the interest.



Speaker 2 [00:26:17] Hello, everybody, and I'm here for one happy man on. And he wrote a few words. He's in California. I the parcel of land here, but I'm very proud to represent him and. He is a very good friend. And you wrote just a few words here and this long list of things that he did and he worked here in this community that I work with him, most of whom. But we're going to talk about him and his words are from my very deep in my heart. I really appreciate and accept this honor in a very humble way. I know there are many heroes out there that have all the merits to be right here today. I realize the struggle and needs of people, especially the youth and their families in front of them. So I got involved in heart. Hartford area rallies together and their drug abuse committee. In 1991, he created and started under the umbrella of Hartford. What was known as C Maine Case Management and for an educated youth, the goal was to provide the juvenile juvenile justice system with an alternative to incarceration and advocated youth. Those to be sent to Long, Long Lane in 1993 see Maine and develop and was well known in the community as Multi Family Center. That's when it became mikhastam that you can see here in front of us mikhaStam Family Center and at the Patient-Centered Inc. on this 501c3 in 1996, Mikasa is still here just across the street from this place in a state of art building donated by Simon. Once donated, we develop a fundraising committee and plan to rebuild. We are building faith, the building we raise and invest three point two million dollars all here. And guns are both very, very related and everybody knows it. And he contributed to a Howard, not only by creating this is gruesome, but also taking all of the other issues that affected the neighborhood and all the places always representing the and broke out and some of the things that he was very involved in many years that he was here working in this community. He organized two community march to the State Capitol A. Against some aid drug problems that we have here in this neighborhood, we participated, participated in many public hearings looking for money for the council to run all its programs and advocating for all the programs in our community. A. You created a prison, a prison outreach program and the Center for the Free Education of Addicts, people from this program were bumped from Hollywood to share their experience and struggles. And also, he was an IOC president. A software program served more than 250 kids in the neighborhood. And at the end, before he retired, he threw his book on collaborative institutional merger, or it was able to bring additional resources and services from out of town. Today, I can say that my contribution to this community Brooke, however, makes me politely proud and can see the fruits of his sacrifice and can see the advancement, development and fulfillment of their maximum potential. And most of our youth and their families I work for. God bless them all, and God bless all of you. Beaverbrook broke.



Unidentified [00:31:39] You been? And I



Speaker 2 [00:31:46] think



Speaker 1 [00:31:48] now a few words from medical



Speaker 5 [00:31:49] tourism.



Speaker 7 [00:31:57] We went to the bathroom and everyone. I'm trying I'm going to stick with the capturing stories. The Harvard Public Library



Speaker 5 [00:32:08] has embarked and we're presently embarked on our process.



Speaker 7 [00:32:13] And yesterday we have our first community listening



Speaker 5 [00:32:16] sessions for the community to be able to



Speaker 7 [00:32:18] give feedback on the draft of the strategic plan. And someone in that section would share the experiences that we have and have have had in libraries. We can't put a price on those. And so listening to everyone and being in the company of all the people who have had or being honored today, it brings to mind that the work that we did



Speaker 5 [00:32:51] and we continue to do



Speaker 7 [00:32:56] for me was influenced by people like if it was influenced by people, like for giving them one thing, want to win this battle? Things like. Advice like what one would say



Speaker 5 [00:33:17] if you



Speaker 7 [00:33:18] see an injustice happening, pull out



Speaker 5 [00:33:20] your camera,



Speaker 7 [00:33:21] OK? Both American communities, where many people in the state of Connecticut were coming together to to bring about awareness to the injustices that were happening in New York is because of the of the Marines there, right? So another room I'm I'm I'm a product of street violence in the in in that school was the first time that I, as a child, was exposed. My town and see that was the vehicle through the books that I was waiting for. So those kinds of things are what have influenced my work. With the Library and the way that we see our work and the way that we see our role. We are conduits, we are facilitators. We are connectors of bringing people together for the purposes of lifelong learning, for the purposes of building a community, for the purposes of civic engagement and bringing a voice for things like this building to happen. So thank you Black Cinema for continuing that work. Thank you, sir, for bringing people together. I am excited about the partnerships and the networking and everything that happens



Speaker 5 [00:34:59] through a library for things like



Unidentified [00:35:02] this to happen. So thank you, everyone.



Speaker 1 [00:35:13] And that's Jessica CloudDB.



Speaker 6 [00:35:30] Here's what we must find interesting. Good afternoon, everyone. I don't know, I don't feel a hero. To be honest, I was for them. So what I'm going to say, you know what, I'm going to beat myself with? That's what I said to my youth. Be myself. I went to every single member halfway house. I was pouring in for. What we did was 10 of my, you know, I want you to stand up and you see, I will tell everything, everything now to my leader wanted my family to be productive in their community is what they are. Like I say here, the official noted that everything from officially the material to the book is one. One day, all those you are going to be like that is DR. Or maybe my own doctor or even my dad is a teacher, so we have to be united and continue what we are doing. I can't believe that with these beautiful accents, you know



Speaker 5 [00:36:29] that I have. Somebody told me, You know, you will notice that I was there nursing. You were my goodness and



Speaker 6 [00:36:38] somebody told me about like, twenty six years ago when I came to this country and I went to quit middle school. You need to go back. You don't know the language. And to this day is hard. But well, they were right. I don't know the language in I try in the English teacher was pneumonitis in English. I will give it Hispanics like got. This is the English class. Look, I know, but I remember when they asked me to read program, so I didn't read No, no, no, no, no. But guess what? One day my mom got me giving advice. I that if you want to be an accountant, which has not played, you need to learn the language to be whatever you want. She gave me that rise in our romance, and that's what I'm doing. Everything right here because you fucking you need reinforcement. I had to properly translate that you don't even know like I why I'm working everything so hard. Because then because we have a hope use the same time that you have a vote for me and my family does what I want to use pH paper over the phone. I still remember when I was going to as it told the story of my life. I never forget. I don't even remember what I need to know. We don't need to say what it's about. Well, you know, and I'm in, I'm a grown woman. My first job when you see people in this community just have a selling job at the same time, they don't want you for the people to give you the Republican-Democrat didn't beautiful realize that the people could visit the World War One. When those beautiful picture with me in my mom was a teacher from high school, he used to take it. Those are my hero. Well, we're not kissing Oprah. Consider myself a hero. While those who told me I don't know, I said the name BS, but you are a hero. And guess what? I'm here for those men because they nominated me when I let them know me debut. You know what? Yes, they're dominating you. I guess I'm doing something I don't know. It's like, This is my job. And that's not the most important thing is we need to be united. We need to be connected because they cannot do it by themselves. I think didn't do it by myself again, and it's vital. I guess so many people in my life, my photography hero even did I have been able to give permission for all those activity, especially woman, which is no longer we all. When she's my life mentor, even women are trading in your head. One day she told me that lady. She, I think to be able to say, Are you crying? Because the way I give it, not only were they not consider my hero, but he's not running, crying my husband all the time that I'm working at my job. Honey, where are you? Oh, I can use them in this. They're you're still helping me. It might only be for me to see your president take the money from her for your service so they may your he always give a hint. My supervisor said beyond our rolling, some of my camera, the over give me the support. So I continues every day I like. I don't know how I'm going to do this and I always say this has to be the best for me. You know everything I want to you guys the you pay attention to me. For me, the cell phone, you know me. You know what?



Speaker 5 [00:40:17] Exactly that would be the



Speaker 6 [00:40:20] perfect thing to do. I need you guys listen to this. I sacrificed my life for you. I and you passing, don't we know, step sacrifice moving on. So we continue to with something different our community, we already have a title for the left hook as well. All Latina women, black owned, it was something different. You know why we need to make it this way? And together we're going to continue to make a difference in my own family. Thank you. Up. We turn now to you in Miami, and we just went along to this school. Not only sign up sent to Chicago twice, so I can before I can get together with 5000 Latino for leadership over point weekly. Oh wow, I didn't know they. Yes, that was true. We must find the sign I have for you. So it's going to be one of the great equalizing in this community. And somebody told me, you told it so much. The building is free. No, I'm Tony Allen to make it difference in our community. I don't disagree, but I make an impact on those. So to be able to attract industry in this world. I wanted one of you walking around demanding me and my person. If you have any job, you run your community, even my, because that's. That's why you have mentors in my life in one today. OK, I want to say thank you to all of you for being here. And remember you, the president. And you.



Speaker 5 [00:42:14] And now, in honor of Reverend Billy Graham, is Pastor Robin.



Speaker 2 [00:42:29] Good afternoon, everyone.



Speaker 8 [00:42:31] It's for us an honor and a privilege to be here today. And I want to congratulate, first of all, all the heroes that have been nominated like it was stated before. I think that there's so many more people that have contributed to this area. This area, as you well know, is predominantly Hispanic and it's it's an honor. I've been in the city since 1966. I've seen the changes. I come from Puerto Rico as a young man about seven years of age, and I've seen a lot of change. But this area is close and dear to my heart, and I am so proud and so happy to be here and representing the Reverend Julie Ramirez, who has been an inspiration to my life, as well as many more. So I just want to just read of something I prepared because out of respect for her, you know, I don't want to miss anything. I just I think it's important to the Hispanic community. Religion is very important as we've talked about integration, and I believe in education when it comes to our congregation and faith temple, known as Temple Faith, but also also the religious part of our lives, is very important. It's fine if we change the mind, educate the mind. And people will do good, but you will really impact the heart and therefore religion comes into play. It's a changing of the heart that will change the person. There are some people that are educated and still they do things that should not be done yet. It's the heart. And that's very important to the Hispanic community. Religion is very important. Show on my behalf and on behalf of our church. I do want to read these these words. Reverend Julie Romero of Mary's came to Connecticut from upstate New York in the early 1960s, leaving her family in a well paying job at IBM. She came as a missionary to open an assembly of God Hispanic Pentecostal Church in the city of Hartford. Being single or female of Hispanic descent, leaving her family behind and English being her first language, she stepped into a male



Speaker 5 [00:45:12] dominated world or profession of clergy.



Speaker 8 [00:45:18] She founded and pastored Faith Temple, known as Temple Fair Assembly of God Church in the south side of Hartford. For fifty three years from industry has touched thousands of people not only here in Connecticut but also throughout the eastern part of the United States, as well as parts of Mexico, Guatemala and, of course, Puerto Rico. Her parish has produced pastors, missionaries as well as evangelists. After years of renting, several small storefront spaces, for example, is now in her fourth year and its location and its current location Buret nine, nine, three and 10 night Broad Street. During the follow, a frog hollow area, a place that talking about the church, a place that we painted for back in 1977, despite opposition from local residents as well as city officials. Yet the Rev. Julie Ramirez was a woman of deep faith and convictions, and she loved God as well as she loved the people that she served. She never back down from a challenge in opposition to controversy. If it came or if it came at the lost or cost of her denied her faith and her convictions. Someone recently described to me that she was a woman ahead of her time, and you know, I do believe that's true. And as pastor of Faith Temple Church Assemblies of God, I am proud to call her my pastor as well as my mentor, and I consider myself honored to continue her legacy and on behalf of Faith Temple Church. I want to also thank those who participated in the nomination and election to make this process in this state possible. So thank you so much. May God bless you. Yet I concluded that if you live in Seattle, regret that gay noise, Souleymane and Garcia, so you got for. Corazon. Implement building of Seattle's equality



Speaker 5 [00:47:30] could be the result of questions that



Speaker 8 [00:47:33] will look like it will not be the same parafilm, so you'll never be. Only what they think.



Unidentified [00:47:43] And. You're you come from this planet is.



Speaker 5 [00:47:57] Good afternoon. I feel like my whole life is here lately. And nothing at all at Wimbledon. I also have a lot of bilingual education in my in my spare time in England. So as already stated, my name is confident that if I'm going to and I am the daughter at one point, there's risk of my. If my father were here today, he would first make sure to recognize Mr Montano, the photographer who took the picture of him that was used for the mural because of my own father's career, but over time where we didn't get the credit that he deserved for his work. So that would be extremely important to him. Grandfather Nathan, my father, always endeavor to tell a story with his pictures, and he was very intentional about the kind of story that he was telling. My father wanted to tell the stories of the unseen and the unheard, and here in this community, in this city, we have many stories to tell. My father told the story of the tobacco farmers who came to Connecticut in the 1960s and buret hard working and living conditions in search of a better life for their families. He told me stories of the protest of the 1970s and 80s and became frustrated with lack of services, education and equal opportunity, employment and wealth, and increased incidence of racial profiling and police brutality. My father told the story of the mother of Uliano father, who lost her son when a building collapsed on him, and there were no spanish-speaking first responders to communicate with the residents who were trying to let them know that there was a boy trapped under the rubble. My father also spoke of stories that celebrate our cultures the softball and domino tournaments in Cole Park, which depicted families and community coming together to enjoy not only the game itself, but the culture that we got was the region that got beyond the boundaries and the music, the conga and the Moroccans and the widows that always came with those tournaments. And then there were the parades, the Puerto Rican parade, with the floats in queens depicting the beauty and pride that we carry inside and outside the West Indian Parade with the colorful carnival costumes, music and dancing to celebrate the independence of the West Indian country. The African-American parade, which provided a platform for all five sectors of the community to come together and celebrate talents and accomplishments while honoring ancestors. My father made certain to tell the stories that emphasize the progress and influential role that people of color played in the Greater Hartford area, the grand openings of businesses and entities like Garvey, McGill and Macao. But they want to censor Scott's Jamaican bakery. The common Bennett building and the art collective Tare mass pictures and articles. My father shed light on the community in a way that mainstream white owned media outlets didn't. My father represented that as Hispanics, as the West, Indians, as African-Americans. We are hardworking, law abiding family, fun and productive and in movement were influential members of the community. The city and the state, which I could ask you.



Speaker 1 [00:52:43] While these stories are amazing, I hope all of you leave here more inspired by everything you saw and heard here today in witness. I know I am, you know. And then there's the second part of this event today, which is sharing oral histories, oral histories of the heroes that are being honored today that impacted their lives one way or another. We love to hear that and capture those stories so that we can continue to inspire and inspire the other generation that are that need to hear these stories. I didn't get to meet a lot of these heroes, and some I did, and I'm beyond inspired by all of. So thank you all for being here today and being a part of this. We're making history today



Speaker 4 [00:53:29] and we may have come you and knives out with your hands up. We've in the back, so I guess so. So we will be clapping for them once we see the videos and the recordings that they make. So it's is a great deal of point. History is happening. As we mentioned, there's so many people who didn't make it a mural who should and other people do other stories about all of these nine and those stories need to be told. So everyone in here you are a library, you are museum and you are sitting on stories and memories that need to be shared. And so both Camilo and Nigel are going to be hopefully recording those so they can be shared in a digital format so someone could be looking at a mural and hear a story of the life of that person, the impact that they had on. So have you want to through the design of the and I was there, that's going to be happening. And the other thing is in the program, there's a few things that you can do in honor of the heroes. We heard today that a lot of the heroes cared about and cared about bilingual education. We actually have some bilingual books that we're giving out. And so if you don't have someone in your family can use it, we recommend you take one and find someone who's going to use it just to honor the legacy of our legal education and their commitment to kids in the neighborhood. Also, you know, we refer to the legacy of one when things of you have a smartphone today, take pictures as you go around the neighborhood, document the beauty document this day and tell that story, and there's different hashtag on social media. And the other thing is, I don't believe you mentioned about baked goods. We actually have some of those in the cafe. We have coffee, we have tea, hot chocolate and some baked goods. Monte Carlo Bakery on Park Street. I mean, they're not going to eat themselves. So we definitely need your help with that. And finally, what I'll point you to is you might be wondering, so where are the murals? Well, they're obviously not in here and there are three locations. And so there's a map. There are three sites. They are all within walking distance of this library. Two Empire Street. A few blocks that way. Mural one depicts Maria Sanchez and a drone of a Brazilian mural to show old viral video there. And that is your photo. And then on Broad Street, if you're on Bravo, you have your blocks across Rotherham Temple of fame because he has gone viral. Reverend Ramirez at one point. So this concludes the program and the rest of the day is just us living in the legacy of these heroes, enjoying the neighborhood, enjoying some food, sharing our stories and just one last round of applause for all the heroes and everyone. No.

Audio Recording

75 minutes