Important places in the Latino community
August 18, 2008
While many Americans enjoy Cinco de Mayo, few understand its historical significance of the day in Mexican History. Watch Arturo Rangel, Tere Tibbetts, and Alejandra Quirarte de Orozco talk about the holiday and its celebration at Heavenly Ski Resort.
Watch Pastor César Minera of the Word of Life Ministries speak about his congregation and time in Tahoe as an evangelical leader.
Latino Night at Tahoe Underground on Wednesdays provides young Latino adults with a time and place to gather, socialize, and dance. The video below includes live Mexican music, dancing, and Raymundo Rosas talking about the importance of Latino Night at Tahoe Underground.
The video below includes a short series of images from South Lake’s Navarro’s Bakery (Panaderia). Jamie’s parents, Francisco and Adele moved to South Lake in 1977. Jaime opened the Bakery so his father could bake bread as he did before immigrating to Tahoe.
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Related posts: [ Explore South Lake’s Latino community ] [ Our Community ] [ Our Workers ] [ The Immigration Experience ] [ BMP community conversation to begin soon ]
The Immigration Experience
August 18, 2008
Watch community members Jorge Orazco, Jorge Montoya, and Alejandra Quirarte de Orozco talk about the experience of immigrating to Tahoe, the process of becoming a citizen, and the idea of “being a Latino.”
This video describes a history of the Latino community in South Lake Tahoe:
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Related posts: [ Our Workers ] [ Important places in the Latino community ] [ Our Community ] [ Explore South Lake’s Latino community ] [ Telling their own stories ]
Our Workers
August 18, 2008
Approximately one-third of South Lake Tahoe’s year round residents are Latino. Many of these residents work as janitors and maids in Tahoe’s hospitality-based economy. Latino construction workers also play an important role in rebuilding the homes destroyed by last year’s Angora fire.
In this video, Latino foremen José Castillo and Jesus “Chuy” Caro talk about Latinos working construction in South Lake.
Watch Francisco Mariscal and the Salas Family talk about cleaning houses and cabins at Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe.
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Related posts: [ Explore South Lake’s Latino community ] [ Important places in the Latino community ] [ Our Community ] [ The Immigration Experience ] [ South Lake neighborhood lives on, even without houses ]
Our Community
August 18, 2008
Watch members of South Lake’s Latino Community speak about their hopes, what they would like non-community members to know, and the issues facing this fledgling community.
In this first video residents describe the opportunities they see in the South Lake Tahoe community:
Latinos in the second video describe what they want others in the South Lake Tahoe community to understand about them.
In this third video, Latinos describe the challenges their community faces in South Lake Tahoe.
The final segment of this section is a 360º “virtual reality” panorama of Bijou Elementary School. Bijou is an important place for the South Lake’s Latino Community. The school’s gymnasium serves as the monthly meeting place for the Latino Affairs Commission, which reports important Latino issues to the City Council. Bijou’s location also provides the grounds for the community’s Family Resource Center, which provides basic needs services to many Latinos living in South Lake. Finally, this last year, Bijou became one of California’s “Two-Way Immersion” schools in which K-6th grade children learn to read, write, and think in both Spanish and English.
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Related posts: [ Explore South Lake’s Latino community ] [ Our Workers ] [ Important places in the Latino community ] [ The Immigration Experience ] [ Fire fund extends deadlines for Angora victims ]
Explore South Lake’s Latino community
August 18, 2008
Over the past few months, I have conducted an experiment in journalism to see if using a process called civic mapping, combined with using multimedia tools (audio, photographs, edited video, and networking software) would enable me to cover South Lake Tahoe’s Latino community in a new way.
My goal was to find a rich and authentic way to report that invited the community’s participation in the storytelling. The 12 videos in this package include interviews with residents and highlights of significant places in the Latino community. Read more
Related posts: [ Our Community ] [ The Immigration Experience ] [ Important places in the Latino community ] [ Our Workers ] [ I Get Why I Don’t Get It ]
Thank you
May 10, 2008
I was recently quoted in a press release that was sent out to 135 media outlets. To say I was mildly embarrassed is an understatement. I don’t want to be famous or have a spotlight shined on me. I have never been good with words and sometimes what comes out of my mouth isn’t really what I mean. For me to be quoted in writing is just as bad as to have my photo taken, or be seen on TV, which I also hate. Is it then a bit ironic that I ask to take people’s pictures for a living?
As a photojournalist I’m not shy about asking people to open up their lives to me and the world. I have always been grateful when people let me into their lives, for a minute, a week or a month. Yet working at a daily newspaper, running from assignment to assignment, I sometimes forget that it is a gift when people share their lives with us. With daily deadlines and routines it can be easy to lose sight of this, turning from asking, to expecting or demanding, access.
So with that I would like to say thank you.
Thank you Lisa. Thank you Anna. For letting me become a part of your lives this spring, for letting me shove a camera in your face when you were tired, or crying, or trying to sleep. Thank you for allowing me to tell your stories—and they are good stories—to the world.
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Organizador comunitario dedica su vida a la justicia social
April 7, 2008
Emilio Vaca se despide de su esposa y su hija de tres meses con un beso cada día cuando se va de la casa de sus suegros a trabajar como un educador, organizador y voluntario en la comunidad. Con frecuencia no llega a su casa hasta después de la cena.
Con la fortaleza, energía y apoyo de su familia y la recompensa que siente al ayudar a la comunidad de Tahoe, Vaca se dedica a causas que varían desde la violencia doméstica a viviendas de costo moderado. En su esfuerzo por mejorar la comunidad de Tahoe, Vaca también lucha por crear un lugar para El y su familia.
Vaca de 28 años, ha vivido en Tahoe desde el 2003 cuando se transfirió al “Sierra Nevada College” y se transformó en el primer hombre latino en atender. Después de una transición lenta a la cultura de Incline Village, el trabajo de Vaca en la comunidad de Tahoe comenzó en serio cuando se transformó en presidente estudiantil.
“Yo pasé de ayudar a organizar la mayor protesta estudiantil de un Colegio Comunitario (Community College) en Sacramento” dijo Vaca, “a mantenerme casi al margen (en Sierra Nevada College). Cuando fui elegido presidente estudiantil, comencé a sentirme mas cómodo con mi participación política y así las cosas empezaron a tomar vuelo nuevamente.”
El contribuye como facilitador voluntario en una organización juvenil, participa en la junta directiva de varias agencias de planificación y organiza reuniones sobre las viviendas de costo moderado.
Vaca se pasa los días y tardes trabajando en Tahoe Women’s Services (Servicios de Tahoe para la Mujer) como el director del proyecto de prevención.
“Proveemos toda la educación sobre violencia domestica, asalto sexual y abuso infantil en las escuelas de la comunidad,” dijo Vaca.
De 24 empleados, Vaca es el único hombre que trabaja para la organización sin fines de lucro de Tahoe Women’s Services.
“A veces es un poco abrumador,” Vaca dijo riéndose. “Pero es magnífico. Yo lo considero un privilegio y una humilde experiencia el trabajar con 23 mujeres.”
Además de trabajar en las escuelas locales, Vaca es voluntario en la organización Creciendo Unidos y Creating Alternatives (Creando Alternativas), un grupo que educa a la juventud de Tahoe sobre las drogas y el alcohol.
“Hemos patrocinado varios eventos que son gratis y sin alcohol para que nuestros jóvenes vengan a compartir y entretenerse. Queremos promover un ambiente sano,” dijo Vaca.
Vaca también representa a Tahoe Women’s Services en la lucha por crear viviendas de costo moderado para la clase trabajadora de Tahoe.
“Yo participo en el directorio de Workforce Housing Association (Asociación por Viviendas para la Clase Trabajadora).[/spanish]
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Organización se preocupa de los necesitados
October 13, 2007
Para ilustrar la importancia del Proyecto MANA, su director George LeBard con frecuencia usa la analogía de una planta. El explica que esta necesita varias cosas para mantenerse viva: aire fresco, sol, nutrientes y agua son algunos de los elementos que él nombra, si uno de ellos falta la planta no puede sobrevivir.
“Es como una comunidad,” él concluye, “si una parte no está bien, afecta a toda la comunidad.”
Por eso, él argumenta, los residentes mas pobres del Lago Tahoe no deberían ser ignorados. Su organización, fundada en 1991 por un estudiante de Sierra Nevada College, provee comida a los necesitados en Incline Village, Kings Beach y Truckee. LeBard se unió a la organización en 1998.
“La salud de la comunidad depende de que todos tengan acceso a las necesidades básicas,” él dijo. “El alimento es una necesidad básica, si no lo tienes piensas en forma diferente, piensas solo en sobrevivir y no piensas en la comunidad.”
LeBard espera cambiar esto. Por años, la organización ha suministrado comida para los necesitados, más de 25,000 visitas el año pasado. Sin embargo, LeBard dijo que los líderes de la organización no estaban contentos con el trato que tenían con sus clientes.
“No los conocíamos,” dijo él. Entonces en Febrero, crearon un equipo para el Servicio de Integración (Service Integration Team), una colaboración entre el Servicio Social (Social-Service) y otras agencias. Ahora, cada cliente se reúne con una familia que apoya a MANA para estudiar otros asuntos, como el abuso de las drogas, la violencia domestica o dificultades en los estudios. A las personas que necesitan aprender inglés se les encuentra clases.
Además de inscribirse para recibir servicios, a los clientes se les invita a participar de voluntarios en agencias como Tahoe Rim Trail. Inspirados por donaciones de el Safeway local, se estableció un sistema de puntos donde los recipientes ganan puntos por cada programa o servicio voluntario al que se integran. Los puntos pueden ser redimidos en la bodega que contiene las donaciones de la comunidad.
“Al terminar el día ellos han logrado algo.” Dijo LeBard. “Al mismo tiempo, se involucran en actividades que no hubiesen hecho normalmente.”
Esta época del año, entre temporadas, es particularmente difícil para las familias de bajos ingresos. “La mayoría de nuestros clientes trabajan en la industria de servicios que apoya a la economía turística,” dijo él.
Para informarse más sobre el proyecto MANA o para hacer donaciones por favor dirigirse a projectmana.org.
Related posts: [ Organizador comunitario dedica su vida a la justicia social ] [ Community organizer dedicates life to social justice ] [ Organization cares for community’s needy ] [ Community newspaper struggles to reach Hispanics ]
Latest Headlines
- Hearing planned in Incline tree-felling case - The federal trial for an Incline Village woman charged with hiring a tree-cutting company to chop three Ponderosa Pines from her Lake Tahoe property has been canceled and a change-of-plea hearing scheduled May 1.
- Truckee man takes torch to North Pole - A Truckee man who reached the North Pole this week carrying an unlit torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games plans to discuss his experience and environmental issues Saturday by audio and video transmissions with participants at a Lake Tahoe festival.
- Quake pattern watched closely - As earthquakes continue to shake Reno, two reports released this month give new insight into the likely characteristics of a temblor at Lake Tahoe.
Winds are Calm. The pressure is 30.33" and the humidity is 100%. Last Updated on Nov 21, 6:45 am PST.
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