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NEWSLETTER
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Resource Committee
By Staci Anderson
The Resource Committee has had a very productive and successful year. The major project for the committee has been the Bilingual Directory. As you may recall this is the first year that the directory was not sponsored through grants. This year the directory was funded by member agencies and others. It was our goal to acquire enough funds to print more than the 29,000 which were printed last year. We surpassed our goal and were able to print more than 40,000 copies. Also through the cooperation of United Way 211 we were able to include many more South County Agencies in the directory. The unveiling and celebration of the 2005 Bilingual Directory was held August 30th at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. This event recognized the sponsors, revealed the new Hispanic Latino Coalition Logo and presented the directories to area agencies. The event was a huge success with fifty five in attendance. The directories were delivered to agencies who requested a large amount and any other interested community agencies may request copies of the directory by emailing Maria Garcia-Casellas at hispaniclatinocoalition@verizon.net
Youth Committee
By Yvonne Bras, Committee Chair
The Youth Committee made some waves this past year.
It represented the Hispanic/Latino Coalition at the first “Youth Expo” held at Philipi Estates Park in collaboration with the Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida and Boys Scouts. The interactive booth introduced the participants to music, dance, and instruments from Latin American countries.
The youth committee also proposed a collaborative endeavor with Edna Apostol, from Gulfcoast South Area Health Education Center, in developing a “Youth – Cultural Competency” workshop. Similar to the cultural competency workshop offered to adults, but with focus to youth and issues they might deal with on a daily basis. This project is a work in progress, but one that will offer a different angel to forums or seminars currently offered in our area.
The Youth Committee also produced articles for inclusion in the Hispanic/Latino newsletter.
Health Committee
By Jose Burgos
The Health Committee presented a Community Health Forum on Sunday September 25, 2005 at St. Martha’s Church. Mrs. Silvia Blanco presented three topics: New Food Pyramid, Health and Nutrition and Diet and Diabetes among Hispanics. We had around 20 participants from the community, healthy snacks were provided. Everyone expressed satisfaction with the topics presented.
Education Committee
By Frances E. Sosadeeter
This 2005-2006 school year, as part of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program, we are visiting every Elementary school in Sarasota County. During these visits we are providing ESOL training for parents of second and third grade students. The ESOL Program has purchased useful supplementary materials for ESOL parents to use at home with their children.
The purpose of the training is to equip the parents with the tools needed to use the materials at home to further prepare their children for FCAT tests. Our goal is to increase parent participation in our schools and ESOL students’ FCAT performance. Meetings are being scheduled during the months of August, September and October.
In addition, we are requesting every school (K-12) to host an annual Parent Leadership Council (PLC) meeting at the beginning of the school year. The purpose of these meetings is to explain to the parents the ESOL curriculum that will be implemented this year with their children. In addition to sharing this information, we encourage ESOL liaisons and teachers to invite community resource professionals, such as Hispanic-Latino Coalition members, to share with the parents the resources and services that you offer and have available to ESOL families. We invite you to participate in these meetings and help us inform our Latino families. I am also available in these meetings to share with the parents the Hispanic-Latino Coalition Bilingual Director and other services I provide to them as their representative in the schools and School Board.
In Sarasota County, we have a more than 2,000 ESOL students from 86 countries who speak 58 languages. As a Latino woman myself, I am proud and grateful of this opportunity to help all our parents, many of which are also Latino.
I look forward to seeing some of your faces in our PLC meetings. Our ESOL students are very talented, and I am delighted to help them enhance their skills with supplementary materials, educational services and contacts of community services available to their families.
Thank you for this opportunity to share with you about our work with ESOL families. If you have any Latino clients that might participate in the ESOL Program or that might be migrant, please refer them to me for possible assistance. You may contact me at 927-9000, ext. 34325. ¡Muchas gracias!
Contact Us
Hispanic/Latino Coalition, Inc.
Location: The Glasser-Shoenbaum Human Services Center 1750 17th St., Building K3 Sarasota, FL 34234 P.O. Box 736 Sarasota, FL 34230 Phone: (941) 955-5834 Fax: (941) 366-7686 hispaniclatinocoalition@verizon.net