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Another end of the summer, another Puerto Rican orgullo here in Connecticut.
The annual Puerto Ricans United (PRU) New Haven New Haven New Year’s Festival is being held today. The head of PRU’s junta directiva, Joe Rodriguez, notes that their approach is slightly different: there is no defile and vendors aren’t solely focused on selling banderas and camisetas.
Rodr guez believes that our emphasis on community resources and services is what sets us apart in New Haven. In addition to having food carts, product vendors, and artisans, they also support numerous community organizations without profit, ranging from health and wellness organizations to employment fairs.
A feria de empleo, S.
We have businesses in the park looking for workers, according to Rodr Guez. We have health evaluations. We will be participating in the New Haven Yale reclutamiento initiative.
This is not always how the celebration is conducted. When the PRU junta directiva members got together for the first time in 2015, they envisioned a beautiful cultural event and, amazingly, succeeded in making it a reality. However, the pandemic forced PRU to rethink their proposal and decided to hold a virtual concert during the peak of COVID-19 outbreaks during that first social distancing period. The festival’s future was then replanned by the junta directiva.
I should mention Tiana Ocasio, a member of the directiva junta, who says, “Good, we have a lot of businesses that come to the park to promote their brand.” What if we asked them if they were hiring and asked if it would be possible to host an employment fair at the same location? We have a lot of health centers in New Haven. Why don’t we offer health evaluations everywhere?
Rodrguez guarantees that at the end of the day, everyone will have something to look forward to at an event that draws up to 10,000 people.
Before the festival ends, there is a chance for everyone to enter the stage and just think about the multitud. And to be honest, for me, that is the most satisfying experience: being in that situation and seeing countless people in front of me, from newborns to octogenarians, singing and dancing, says Rodr Guez. Despite the political differences in our country, it is very amazing to see a sea of happy people united.
Although PRU is not a political organization, its members do not refrain from taking positions on issues that impact Puerto Ricans. Soon after, the group decided not to accept the support of Avelo, a regular festival patron. This low-cost airline, which provides direct flights from New Haven to San Juan, has drawn harsh criticism from several Connecticut activist groups for operating deportation flights for the Trump administration.
Given our relationship, we hope to continue working together by becoming a third party, said Rodriguez. However, before we could decide to enter those topics, we voted almost unanimously to say: Good, we are a community. And when we say “community,” we don’t only mean the Puerto Rican community. It is the New Haven community.
The decision was made in cooperation with the office of New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who recently issued a directive to the employees to use public funds for flights, merchandise, brand identification, advertising, or promotion of Avelo Airlines.
Elicker shows his solidarity on the eve of the Puerto Rican bandera’s izamiento ceremony in New Haven Green.
The celebration officially starts at 1 p.m. with food trucks, vendors, and live music by salsa artists like Grammy-nominated Charlie Aponte, whose career includes the Puerto Rico Grand Combo.
