Photo: Jessica and Joshua of Valley Stream

Some photos convey more than intended, right? This is one!

A photo of a brother and sister, but it's really a portrait of familia, warmth, fun and classic Boricua good looks.

Muchas gracias to Jessica and Joshua for allowing us to post their cool pic!

Jose Oquendo's photos from last Saturday's 47th Annual Brentwood Puerto Rican/Hispanic Day Parade

Jose Oquendo's photos from last Saturday's 47th Annual Brentwood Puerto Rican/Hispanic Day Parade. Beautiful! 

Click

47th Annual Puerto Rican Hispanic Day Parade -- Brentwood, NY

Today! For more info: 47th Annual Brentwood PR-Hispanic Day Parade

Manuel Marquino Clavel: Immigrant Day Worker 1929

Manuel Marquino Clavel was a 43 year old 'day worker' when he joined the Spanish Benevolent Society of New York City in 1929. An immigrant from Cordoba, Spain, Manuel lived in many places including Brooklyn, Massapequa Park and Lindenhurst in the 1950s.

US Census: 1,551,629 Latinos Live In The 4 Counties of Long Island

‎1,551,629 Latinos live in the 4 counties situated on Long Island: Kings (Brooklyn) 496,285, Queens 613,750, Nassau 195,355 and Suffolk 246,239. That's 45% of NY State's Latino population! 

Briarcliffe College President Santiago Receives Honors

Dr. George Santiago Jr., president of Briarcliffe College (Long Island City, Bethpage & Patchogue N.Y.) and a prominent advocate of advanced education opportunities within the Hispanic community, received the 2009 Nassau County Hispanic Heritage Award and was named Educator of the Year by the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Alarmed by the underrepresentation of Hispanics in America's colleges, Santiago has committed to reaching out, including financial support through the Briarcliffe College Hispanic Scholarship Program.

Source: The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine

Hofstra to Celebrate Suburban Diversity

Hofstra University is hosting a Celebration of Suburban Diversity banquet this fall to raise funds for scholarships and research. It's part of a conference on the "The Diverse Suburb," scheduled for October 22, 2009, 6 p.m., at the university's David S. Mack Student Center.

"The evening will feature inspiring speeches and dramatic presentations, as well as musical performances, art work and awards to students and others."

It's great that Hofstra recognizes that the island's (and Hofstra's ) future is directly tied to the region's exploding racial/ethnic diversify. Hey, late is better than never, right?

Q: Why then are the folks fighting nativism (in its many local guises) missing among the conference planners and speakers? Where is Dr. Valenzuela, Sister Margaret Smith, Patrick Young, Maryann Slutsky, Nadia Marin, Rev. Allen Ramirez, Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter, et al?

Just asking.

Photo: Hofstra towers.

1 Million Uninsured

A new report on poverty reveals that 1,052,611 residents of Long Island under 65 have no health insurance. Yup! That's 43% of the state's 2,471,152 uninsureds. And 1 in 6 islander under 65 lacks coverage.

Here are the numbers and percentages of the uninsured by county:

• Kings County: 335,289 - 15.9%
• Nassau County: 173,349 - 15.1%
• Queens County: 345,196 - 17.6
• Suffolk County: 198,777 - 15.2%

A few questions:

• How is it that the economically challenged Western NY counties of Erie, Monroe and Niagara have lower rates of uninsureds (11.3% - 11.9%) than wealthy LI?
• How is it that Bronx County manages an uninsured rate of 11.1%?
• How is it that 68% of the largely rural Upstate counties (27 of 40) have uninsured rates greater than 15% and as high as thirty per cent in state as rich as NY?
• Furthermore, how is it that NY spends so much while managing to leave millions uninsured?

Link: 2009 New York State Poverty Report

LI's 20 Latino Pols = shocking under-representation

The roster of Latino elected officials on Long Island increased by three in the last month to a total of twenty. Hurray!

(Now we need to elect 313 to reach parity with Whites!)

The newbies are:

1) Julissa Ferreras , Queens D , NYC Council
2) Livio Tony Rosario, Village of Hempstead Board of Trustees
3) Carmen Piñeyro, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees

It's progress -- although Latinos have a long way to go to achieve anything resembling fair representation. For example, there are about 800 White elected officials across Long Island (village, town, county, city, state and federal) excluding special districts and school boards. With a population of 3.6MM, Whites are represented on a ratio of about 4500:1. That compared to the 75,000:1 for Latinos (n=1.5MM). African Americans (n=1.7MM) do better at 41,000:1.

Include school boards and special districts and the White representation ratio drops below 2,000:1. Add in appointees on government commissions, nonprofit boards and business associations and the racial/ethnic representation gap grows exponentially.

This is not to advocate racial or ethnic proportional representation. There are wonderful examples of politicians very ably representing diverse constituencies. And then there are 'machine' politicians of all shades that are more interested in serving themselves and their political bosses.

Nonetheless, it is not healthy in a multi-ethnic community for one group to have so small a voice into the affairs and policies of government. A glaring example of the problems under-representation creates can be seen in the dismissive attitudes of Suffolk County officials to hate crimes against African Americans and Latinos. Another example--which no one talks about--is the distribution of government funding and philanthropic grants.

Long Island's 20 Latino elected officials:

Anthony Jimenez, City of Glen Cove Council
Carmen Piñeyro, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees
David Mejias, Nassau County Legislature
Diana Reyna, Brooklyn, City Council
Felix Ortiz, Brooklyn, NY Assembly
Hiram Monserrate, NY Senate
Jorge A. Martinez, Village of Freeport Board of Trustees
José R. Peralta, Queens, NY Assembly
Julissa Ferreras, Queens, NYC Council
Livio Tony Rosario, Village of Hempstead Trustee
Maria-Christina Poons, Town of North Hempstead Council
Mark A. Bonilla, Town of Hempstead, Town Clerk
Martin Malavé Dilan, Brooklyn, NY Senate
Nydia Velázquez, Brooklyn-Queens, U.S. Congress
Phil Ramos, Suffolk, NY Assembly
Ricardo Montano, Suffolk County Legislature
Sara M. Gonzalez, Brooklyn, NYC Council
Tony Martinez, Town of Babylon Council
Vito J. Lopez, Brooklyn, NY Assembly
Vivian Viloria Fisher, Suffolk County Legislature

Severe & Deeply Rooted Housing Discrimination on Long Island

The advocacy group Education Research Advocacy Support to Eliminate Racism (ERASE Racism)'s latest report, The Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island (pdf), concludes that African Americans and Latinos are still treated unfairly when searching for homes in Long Island (New York).

The discrimination, the report observes, is severe and deeply rooted in the highly segregated society that is Long Island.

A primary culprit? Real estate professionals.

The report found that some Long Island real estate agents routinely practice housing discrimination, despite efforts to crack down on it, including repeatedly steering African Americans and Latinos to rundown neighborhoods.

Seventy three percent (73%) of all housing race discrimination complaints on Long Island from 2000 to 2007 were filed against real estate professionals.

The report also found that local state and federal government agencies failed to act to stem housing discrimination based on race on Long Island.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under George W. Bush failed to oversee and monitor New York’s human rights cases.

The state’s Division of Human Rights under George Pataki dismissed most housing discrimination complaints. Between 1999 and 2007, 90 percent of the race-based fair housing complaints from Long Island received a “no probable cause” finding.

And local municipalities failed to take “any significant steps towards drafting and implementing community development plans that address inequities caused by racial segregation.”

Links:
Report: Housing discrimination on LI 'routine practice'
Not so fair housing on LI
Housing Barriers Persist on Long Island: New Study Reveals Housing Discrimination on
Long Island Is Severe and Deeply Rooted - report press release
The Racial Equity Report Card: Fair Housing on Long Island

Gov. Paterson on Diffusing Hate on LI

Governor David Paterson has been working behind the scenes to diffuse tensions on Long Island in the aftermath of the hate murders of Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue and Jose Sucuzhañay in Bushwick.

Working through his Commissioner of Human Rights Commissioner Galen Kirkland, Paterson who sought to facilitate dialogue through a newly formed unity council.

Paterson's focus is clearly on touching the hearts and minds, i.e., changing the culture, so that healing and peace can take root in troubled families and communities. His prescription includes:

A focus on youth.

"Most of the uprisings are from younger people who are taking the antagonistic words of their elders and manifesting them in violence. Adults, you see, are grown-ups. They've got jobs... and for the most part they don't have time to swing baseball bats at each other because this is not going to be productive."

A call to parents to watch what they teach the children.

"There are citizens who are good citizens, but who may have contributed to the problem in the privacy of their own homes. They are spawning contempt and bias with some very loathsome things they have to say to their family members."

And a call on the community to resist the destructive influences of hate.

"People have to realize that they are ... getting a reputation, like a Skokie. Hate is not good for the economy, not good for the quality of life, not good for our home values, not good for our children."

Link: Guv lends support to Island anti-hate measures

Photo: Gov. Paterson's spring visit to Hempstead High School.(Audrey C. Tiernan, Newsday)

Top 10 LI Communities for Obama and McCain '08

Obama supporters

1) Roosevelt - 97%

2) Wyandanch - 92%

3) Uniondale - 88%

4) Stony Brook - 87%

5) Hempstead - 85%

6) Brentwood - 79%

7) Freeport - 77%

8) Elmont - 77%

9) Central Islip - 76%

10) Amityville - 73%

McCain supporters

1) Lawrence - 69%

2) Garden City - 68%

3) Woodmere - 64%

4) Saint James - 60%

5) West Islip - 60%

6) Seaford - 60%

7) Massapequa - 60%

8) Great Neck - 60%

9) Bayville - 60%

10) Franklin Square - 59%

Obama's Long Island Victory

Barack Obama easily won New York in Tuesday's presidential election by capturing 62% (4,357,360) of the vote to McCain's 37% (2,593,368).

Nationally, New York tied for 4th best result for Obama-Biden with Illinois and Massachusetts. The strongest Obama states were Hawaii (72%), Vermont (67%) and Rhode Island (63%). (Of course, Washington, DC gave 93% of its vote to Obama-Biden.)

But how did Obama do on Long Island? Actually, he did quite well.

The Obama-Biden ticket won all four of Long Island's counties with 65% (1,617,626) of the vote to McCain-Palin's 34% (845,957).* They trounced McCain-Palin in the urban counties of Kings and Queens, while also edging their GOP rivals in suburban Nassau and Suffolk.

Here are the results:

Kings
Obama-Biden 79%
McCain-Palin 20%

Queens
Obama-Biden 74%
McCain-Palin 25

Nassau
Obama-Biden 53%
McCain-Palin 46%

Suffolk
Obama-Biden 52%
McCain-Palin 47%

*LI vote total vote count as of 11/6 is 2,486,410.

What was the impact of Long Island's surging 1.5 million Latino community on Tuesday's election results? Stay tuned. That will be the topic of a future post.

October 27th Symposium - The Economic Contributions of Immigrants to Nassau and Suffolk Counties

The Center for Social Innovation at Adelphi University, Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Long Island Immigrant Alliance, Suffolk County Office of Minority Affairs and Long Island Wins Present:

Strengthening Long Island:
The Economic Contributions of Immigrants to Nassau and Suffolk Counties
3:00 - 4:30pm
October 27, 2008

A symposium including a presentation and discussion of the results of a new study by Adelphi University Prof. Mariano Torras, which finds that in 2006, immigrants contributed $10.6 billion to the Long Island economy. Immigrants exercised $7.5 billion in buying power, helped create 82,000 new jobs, and even paid $2 billion more in taxes than they received in services.

Strengthening Long Island: The Economic Contributions of Immigrants to Nassau and Suffolk Counties assesses the positive impact of immigrant Long Islanders on many facets of Long Island’s economy. This report demonstrates the critically important role of the immigrant population on Long Island and details their contributions to the economy.

Adelphi University - Alumni House
154 Cambridge Ave, Garden City, NY 11530

Admission is free
Please RSVP to longislandwins@gmail.com or 516.304.5642
LIWins

Related: New Study by Adelphi University's Dr. Mariano Torras: Immigrants Contribute $Billions to LI Economy

New Study by Adelphi University's Dr. Mariano Torras: Immigrants Contribute $Billions to LI Economy

Immigrants are major contributors to Long Island's economy.

That is the major finding of Strengthening Long Island: The Economic Contributions of Immigrants to Nassau and Suffolk Counties, a new report by Mariano Torras, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics at Adelphi University and Fellow at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Unveiled Monday, the report follows the release in 2007 of The Economic Impact of The Hispanic Population on Long Island, NY. Both reports were funded by The Hagedorn Foundation in Port Washington.

Here are some press reactions:

Study: Immigrant economic impact $10.6 billion on LI
Long Island Business News

A study released Monday by Adelphi University shows that Long Island immigrants contributed $10.6 billion to the Long Island economy in 2006 and generated about 82,000 jobs as a result of their consumer spending. The study added that Long Island would have lost rather than gained population since 1980 without the immigrant population.

Long Islanders take opposing views on immigrants
Newsday

"We lost a labor pool but gained a new wealthier population that demands services, and the Latinos jumped in and filled the gap," said Kappel, a real estate broker and the former mayor of Greenport. "It's been very beneficial."

Adelphi Study Says Immigrants No Drain on Long Island Economy
Associated Content

The breakdown of financial contribution by culture was $3,249.00 by Asian immigrants, $4,029.00 by non-Hispanic white immigrants, $842.00 by Hispanic immigrants and $789.00 by black immigrants.

Bill "The Long Island Guy" Drago's Summer Reminisces

Anna Maria Arias '08 Awards for Latina Entrepreneurs

Jennifer Roder, Founder and CEO of Package Express Inc., Deer Park, Long Island received the prestigious Anna Maria Arias Memorial Business Fund Award in 2007. Ms. Roder was one of ten accomplished Latinas from across the United States to be so honored.

The awards are the brainchild of Anna Maria Arias, the late founder and editor of LATINA Style Magazine, in order to recognize and further excellence in Latina entrepreneurial and civic leadership.

This year's search is underway -- and the deadline for self-nominations is August 8, 2008. Click here for an application.

BTW: Ms. Roder is first on the 2nd row.

Long Island's Fastest Growing Group: Latinos

In the Town of Hempstead, boarded up downtown storefronts are reopening as bodegas, hair salons and ethnic restaurants.

It’s a scene being played out throughout Long Island. As younger Long Islanders flee for what they perceive to be a better way of life, Latino entrepreneurs are lifting an otherwise stagnant regional economy.

From 2000 to 2006, Latinos have been the fastest growing demographic on Long Island. According to the Long Island Index, the Latino population on Long Island grew 25 percent, from comprising 10.3 percent of the total population in 2000 to 12.6 percent in 2006. There are now about 450,000 Latino immigrants living on Long Island.

LIBN: The changing face of Long Island

Visitors to Latino Long Island -- An Update

As of May 27, 2008, 3242 persons from across the globe have visited Latino Long Island.

Here are the numbers:

- 3242 visitors from 72 countries/territories
- 2914 US visitors from 47 states
- 2053 visitors from New York State from 170 cities, towns, villages and hamlets, including:

1. Albany
2. Albertson
3. Amityville
4. Astoria
5. Babylon
6. Bay Shore
7. Bayport
8. Bayside
9. Bellport
10. Bethpage
11. Binghamton
12. Blue Point
13. Bohemia
14. Brentwood
15. Briarcliff Manor
16. Bridgehampton
17. Bronx
18. Bronxville
19. Brookhaven
20. Brooklyn
21. Buffalo
22. Calverton
23. Carle Place
24. Centereach
25. Central Islip
26. Clifton Park
27. Cohoes
28. Cold Spring Harbor
29. College Point
30. Commack
31. Cooperstown
32. Corning
33. Corona
34. Cortland
35. Dansville
36. Deer Park
37. Depew
38. Dobbs Ferry
39. East Elmhurst
40. East Hampton
41. East Meadow
42. East Northport
43. East Norwich
44. East Quogue
45. East Rochester
46. Elmhurst
47. Elmont
48. Elmsford
49. Fairport
50. Farmingdale
51. Farmingville
52. Fayetteville
53. Floral Park
54. Flushing
55. Forest Hills
56. Franklin Square
57. Garden City
58. Getzville
59. Glenwood Landing
60. Great Neck
61. Greenlawn
62. Greenvale
63. Harrison
64. Hauppauge
65. Hempstead
66. Hicksville
67. Highland
68. Highland Falls
69. Holbrook
70. Holtsville
71. Horseheads
72. Huntington
73. Huntington Station
74. Islandia
75. Islip Terrace
76. Ithaca
77. Jackson Heights
78. Jamaica
79. Jamesville
80. Jericho
81. Kew Gardens
82. Lake Grove
83. Larchmont
84. Latham
85. Levittown
86. Long Island City
87. Malverne
88. Mamaroneck
89. Manhasset
90. Manorville
91. Marathon
92. Maspeth
93. Massapequa
94. Mastic
95. Mattituck
96. Medford
97. Melville
98. Middle Island
99. Miller Place
100. Mineola
101. Mount Vernon
102. Nassau
103. Nesconset
104. New Hartford
105. New Hyde Park
106. New Rochelle
107. New York
108. Newtonville
109. North Babylon
110. Northport
111. Oakdale
112. Old Bethpage
113. Old Westbury
114. Ozone Park
115. Painted Post
116. Palisades
117. Patchogue
118. Plainview
119. Port Byron
120. Port Chester
121. Port Jefferson Station
122. Purchase
123. Queens Village
124. Queensbury
125. Rego Park
126. Ridge
127. Riverhead
128. Rochester
129. Rockville Centre
130. Rocky Point
131. Rome
132. Ronkonkoma
133. Roosevelt
134. Rosedale
135. Roslyn
136. Roslyn Heights
137. Sayville
138. Scarsdale
139. Selden
140. Shirley
141. Smithtown
142. Southampton
143. St James
144. Staten Island
145. Stony Brook
146. Sunnyside
147. Syosset
148. Syracuse
149. Tarrytown
150. Uniondale
151. Upton
152. Valhalla
153. Valley Stream
154. Wantagh
155. Wappingers Falls
156. Water Mill
157. Webster
158. West Babylon
159. West Harrison
160. West Hempstead
161. West Islip
162. Westbury
163. Westhampton
164. Whitestone
165. Williston Park
166. Woodbury
167. Woodside
168. Wyandanch
169. Yaphank
170. Yorktown Heights

Mariah Carey

Singer, songwriter, record producer and actress Mariah Carey was born in Huntington Long Island and attended Harborfields High School in Greenlawn.

Mariah Carey (Wikipedia)
Mariah Carey's website