CITY Newspaper
proudly inducts the NEWEST MEMBER of the
ROCHESTER THEATER HALL OF FAME At the TheatreROCS! Showcase 2013
"IT'S A MAD, MAD WORLD"
Saturday, April 13, 8 p.m.
LATINO ROCHESTER continues from page 7
the transformation under way in the US economy, says city schools Superintendent Bolgen Vargas. (Vargas came to the US from the Dominican Republic when he was in his teens.) There was a time when a young person with a limited education could get a decent job, Vargas says, but today even most entry level positions require some math and computer skills. Education is more than just a pathway to a better job, Vargas says: it is essential. Ask a group of Rochester Latinos to name
some of the community’s most important leaders, and many familiar names come
Just because you have people who have been elected into office or have achieved success, doesn’t mean you have charismatic leaders. You have people in political jobs.” He credits the work of Latinos like retired city commissioner Julio Vasquez for building community awareness and engagement around a wide range of issues from employment to education. “We had pickets and marches, and we brought about needed change,” he says. Those efforts resulted in the introduction of bilingual education into the city school district’s curriculum and the creation of the Ibero-American Action
Hispanic-Latino
(reception at 7 p.m.) JCC Hart Theater, 1200 Edgewood Ave.
34,456 / 16.4%
Mexican
1,168 / 0.6%
Puerto Rican
27,734 / 13.2%
FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY:
Black Sheep Theatre, Bristol Valley Theater, Geomantics Dance Theater, GRRC, Irondequoit Theatre Guild, JCC CenterStage, Nuts & Bolts Improv Troupe, Off-Monroe Players, Penfield Players, Out of Pocket Productions, PUSH Physical Theatre, RAPA, TYKEs, and Unleashed Improv! HOSTED BY:
Mrs. Kasha Davis TICKETS:
$15 ($10 for students) For more information call 585-461-2000 or visit jccrochester.org
8 CITY
CITY
APRIL 10-16, 2013
Rochester’s Hispanic-Latino population Total city population: 210,565 Source: 2010 US Census
up. But the Rev. Laurence Tracy is among the community’s most highly regarded figures. For about 50 years, the Roman Catholic priest has worked and lived in what he calls the city’s east-side barrio. The walls of Tracy’s small apartment off North Clinton Avenue near Upper Falls Boulevard are covered with small plaques in both Spanish and English recognizing his community involvement. Tracy says he’s deeply concerned about the city school district’s low graduation rates. He has worked with multiple generations of Latinos who have struggled with poverty, often from cradle to grave. And he attributes some of the problem to a lack of new leadership in the Latino community. “In the 1960’s and 1970’s, we had some charismatic people,” he says. “We don’t have that kind of leadership today.
Cuban
1,616 / 0.8%
Other Hispanic-Latino 3,938 / 1.9%
League. The human service agency remains at the heart of the community. He says the difficulty for many activists and community leaders is that upward mobility sometimes leads to a disconnect from the community. And he includes his own work in the criticism. “What’s hard is not being clinical and detached,” he says. “I challenge myself to be personal and compassionate to a lot of people who are in pain and suffering. You’ve got to remain involved with advocacy. You deal with tragedy by dealing with the structural causes of that tragedy.”