Rep. Sanchez recognized during Hispanic Heritage Month
October 8, 2020Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
ConnCAN is proud to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month! And, we are committed to advocating on behalf of all students, including the 114,981 Hispanic students who constitute 21.8% of Connecticut's public school population.
As an organization dedicated to education equity, we are equally focused on the unique needs of Connecticut's 43,568 English language learners, many of whom are Spanish speakers. And, we work closely with local organizations to make sure student needs are being met.
By working with partner organizations including the Hispanic Alliance of Southeastern CT, Building One Community in Stamford or Step Up New London, we build our collective power and can better address the concerns of Latino families.
This year, we are proud to honor State Representative Robert Sanchez, Connecticut's first Latino chair of the Education Committee!
It has been wonderful to work with Representative Sanchez to enact critical pieces of legislation including An Act Concerning Minority Teacher Recruitment and Retention, An Act Concerning Computer Science Instruction in Schools and An Act Concerning the Inclusion of Black and Latino Studies in Connecticut Schools. You can read more about Rep. Sanchez here.
As we work with Latino leaders and families across the state, we help make sure all students have access to a high quality education!
We are also honored to share the story of civil rights activists Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez who fought and won a landmark school discrimination case in 1944!
Honoring Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez
Puerto Rican civil rights activist Felicitas Mendez fought and won the first federal court case on school segregation laws in 1944.
When her three children were discriminated against because of the color of their skin, Felicitas and her husband Gonzalo fought back against the system!
In doing so, these parents helped lay the ground work for the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Join us as we honor Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez!
"They Called Him Papu: The Life of a Beloved Grandfather"
Check out this and other great American stories from StoryCorps. Papu came to the U.S.A. during WWII as part of the Bracero Program, "Papu: The Life of a Beloved Grandfather."
During World War II, Ricardo Ovilla came from Chiapas, Mexico as part of the Bracero Program, the largest guest worker program in U.S. history. He went where the work took him, traveling across the country to pick fruits and lay railways. It was hard labor, but Ricardo hoped to build his family a home in a new country. Eventually he did just that, bringing his wife and kids to the United States.
In those early days, things were tough. Ricardo’s whole family worked alongside him in the fields picking fruits amidst thorny branches. But no matter how hard things got, Ricardo refused to be demoralized. He’s remembered by his granddaughters Martha Escutia and Marina Jimenez as an eternal optimist — a man “whose mission was just to bring joy to his family and his kids.