Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago

As I noted in the previous issue of La Voz, for more than 3-years the leadership of the NDOUs has debated the creation of a new interdisciplinary department to house all units. During the fall of 2023, a majority of the faculty of El Instituto and the Africana Studies Institute voted against joining the new department. A majority of the faculty of El Instituto thought that joining a new department would create unreasonable labor expectations and prefer to work in an institute that is focused on Puerto Rican, Latino/a, Caribbean and Latin American studies. The other four institutes will join in the creation of a new department (yet to be named). Our faculty supports their decision and stands in solidarity with our colleagues.

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago

UConn’s Puerto Rican Studies Initiative (PRSI) is releasing a series of data dashboards designed to provide public access to different types of demographic and archival data addressing different dimensions of the Puerto Rican experience with the help of UConn Graduate students.

 

We have created dashboards addressing various demographic dimensions of Puerto Ricans in Connecticut and an interactive dashboard addressing various demographic dimensions of Puerto Ricans in the Northeast. The dashboard is available on the Puerto Rican Studies Initiative website.

 

In addition, we have developed an interactive dashboard to study the history of political status legislation for Puerto Rico. The data can be accessed through the Tableau Public platform.

 

We are in the process of creating several additional dashboards that address the demographic dimensions of Puerto Ricans in the United States.

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago

On January 20, 2024, we celebrated Connecticut’s first Latino and Puerto Rican Policy Summit. Our goal is to establish a comprehensive non-partisan agenda for the Latino community in Connecticut. The event was titled Building a Better Future: The Latino and Puerto Rican Policy Agenda Summit and was held at the Marriot Downtown Hotel. The goals of the agenda included:

 

• To provide essential information to policymakers, encourage civic participation, and address critical gaps in data analysis for our community.
• The summit serves as a platform to inform and enhance leadership within the Latino community, empowering community leaders, elected officials, and advocates.
• Beyond agenda-setting, the event provides a unique space for networking, fostering connections and collaborations within and beyond the Latino community.
• Provide essential information to policymakers, ensuring that the needs and concerns of Latinos in Connecticut are given due consideration.
• Promote active civic participation by disseminating accurate and accessible information on current socio-political issues, encouraging proactive engagement and informed decision-making within the Latino community.
• Consolidate the themes and priorities expressed during the preceding community dialogues into a comprehensive report for further discussion and distribution.
• Facilitate networking opportunities by creating a platform for attendees to connect, collaborate, and build meaningful relationships within and beyond the Latino community.
• Unveil innovative data tools that will address critical gaps in data analysis for the Latino community. These tools will empower our community and lawmakers with comprehensive, up-to-date information for informed decision-making and advocacy.

 

For more information, please visit the webpage dedicated to this event: https://puerto-rican-studies-initiative.clas.uconn.edu/latino-puerto-rican-policy-agenda-summit/

Contributed by Charles R. Venator-Santiago

Please join us in celebrating our colleague Rodolfo Fernandez, who received two awards from the Provost’s Competition Common Curriculum Grant Competition to develop two TOI-3 (creativity) courses. The selection committee wrote that it “was very impressed with your proposal and voted for your course development.” Professor Fernandez will be developing a course titled: “LLAS/HIST 26XX Role Playing Revolutionary Mexico” and a course titled: “LLAS/HIST 16XX  W Latin American Histories through Popular Cultures.”