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Voice For Hispanics In Demand: Officials Try to Understand Issues Group Faces

March 2, 2006
by Keach Hagey

When a recent fight at the high school raised the question of whether there were tensions between the town's white and Hispanic students, another question followed soon after in the minds of many town, school and police officials: If there were tensions, how would we know? What leaders speak for Greenwich's Hispanic community?

Many Hispanic Greenwich residents say these questions themselves belie a lack of understanding, since there is no such thing as a "Hispanic community."

Immigrants come to Greenwich from dozens of different Spanish-speaking countries; some leave everything behind in search of a better life, while others are transferred here by their international employers. The group is too diverse to have spokesmen, they say.

But that hasn't stopped town, school and police officials from seeking them.

The fight, and subsequent soul-searching, cast a spotlight on the difficulties officials have when trying to reach out to and understand the concerns of the town's fastest-growing demographic. Hispanics account for 12 percent of the school district's and 7 percent of the town's population.

"All the elected and appointed officials in town, and agency heads, have this shared challenge of lack of effective communications with members of the Hispanic community," Superintendent of Schools Larry Leverett said.

He said he could probably name a half dozen opinion-makers in the African-American community, and the fact that he couldn't do the same for the Hispanic community was "a problem."

Other town officials fared little better. "There's no one that we know of or I know of that is a Latino town leader," said Ray Butler, deputy commissioner of the town's Department of Social Services, which employs several Spanish-speaking social workers.

Police Capt. David Ridberg said he is in the midst of a major effort to remedy this problem for the police department.

"I'm doing everything I can to make inroads into the community and identify some leaders," he said. "I use a lot of translators, and I've got Spanish-speaking officers, and we've done some talks at the Head Start program, but I wouldn't call those people leaders. Those are just parents of kids. We are trying our best to become more involved in the Spanish community."

When First Selectman Jim Lash wants to know what's going on in the Hispanic community he said he calls Greenwich Library Director Mario Gonzalez, who he helped recruit for that position in 1997 specifically because of Gonzalez's success doing outreach to the Hispanic community while working in libraries in New York City.

"When I need to reach somebody in the Hispanic community, I usually talk to Mario about who he's talking to and who he knows," Lash said. "The only other place I can go to is the Affirmative Action Committee. There is not some individual who is in touch with the First Selectman's office, who is one of the identified leaders of the Hispanic community."

Gonzalez, who lives in Rockland County, N.Y., said he was flattered to be thought of in this way, but doesn't really consider himself a leader in this respect. He said that he understood there was a lack of people of Hispanic background in leadership positions in Greenwich.

"I think there's a strong interest in the elected officials about connecting to that community and finding out what their needs and issues are," he said.

One of the groups specifically set up to address this issue is the Hispanic Advisory Council of Greater Stamford, members of social service organizations, civic groups, companies, religious groups and other professionals that work with the Hispanic community in Stamford, Greenwich, Norwalk and the surrounding area.

The council's president, Carolina Osorio, now a Stamford resident, grew up in Greenwich, and several people from Greenwich sit on the council, including Juan Pazmino, of Family Centers, and Stephanie Paulmeno, of the Greenwich Health Department.

However, although Stamford officials and residents often use the council's monthly meetings as a resource to reach out to the Hispanic community, few from Greenwich do, Osorio said.

In Greenwich, those involved with the Hispanic community agree that undisputed center of Hispanic religious life is St. Mary Church, where Rev. German Martinez founded the Hispanic Center of Greenwich and says Mass in Spanish on Saturday evenings.

Many point to Martinez, who stays in Greenwich on the weekends as he teaches at Fordham University during the week, as the primary spokesman for Greenwich Hispanics. He was out of the country and unable to be reached for this article.

Rosario Ordonez, a social worker at DSS who also sits on the board of the church's Hispanic center, said the center provides a rare place of convergence in an otherwise fragmented community.

"The Spanish community is not integrated anywhere," she said. "You are going to see a Peruvian club, a Colombian club, but no community. If you go to the church, probably you are going to see integration, but outside, it's impossible to integrate."

Some of these nationalities do have their own leaders in town, however. Advocates for Hispanic residents say one of them is John Jairo Bermudez, 42, who emigrated from Colombia two decades ago and today lives in Byram and works for a hedge fund company. Eight years ago, he started a public access television show, TV Colombia on Channel 77, to dispel negative stereotypes about his home country.

"I was sick and tired of listening to people complain about Colombians, saying that most Colombians are drug dealers," he said. "I try to interview people who do something different, artists, soccer players." He has also organized musical events for the Colombian community, usually in Stamford, but has found that it is difficult to maintain this over the years.

"One of the biggest problems that we have, for some reason - probably our jobs or our daily lives - is that it is kind of hard to get the Colombian community together," he said. "Once in a while we get together, but then we don't see each other for a long time."

One of the things that does bring members of the town's Hispanic community together on a regular basis, though, is soccer. Pedro Montoya, 49, came from Colombia 26 years ago, and today works at Indian Harbor House. After work, he organizes soccer games with friends from Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador and other countries.They play three times a week, usually on the Havemeyer Field or in Glenville, he said.

While the group had trouble getting permits for the fields a few years ago, they fought to get them in recent years and now have a good relationship with the Parks and Recreation Department, according to recreation director Don Mohr.Although he holds no official role, his organizing and advocating makes him a leader of sorts.

"Everybody needs a chance to play soccer," Montoya said.

The schools also play an important role, according to many familiar with the community. Many pointed to Folsom Housemaster Iris Anorga, who started the school's Hispanic club, Vision, as one of the most important Hispanic leaders in town. Anorga could not be reached for comment.

But it may be the members of this club that are the real leaders of Greenwich's Hispanic community. Though still in their teens, they are
politically active, lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation to help undocumented immigrants go to college. And in the wake of the infamous fight, Vision President Valentina Pereda, 18, played the role of spokesperson, meeting with the headmaster and superintendent, and fielding phone calls from media organizations.

Leverett said he continues to rely on the club to understand the school district's rising Hispanic population. "For me, it's the student leadership at the high school that keeps me abreast of issues and concerns related to Hispanics in the community," he said.

Pereda agreed that the club probably did represent Greenwich's Hispanic leadership.

"I think we are, because I think we're the first generation who is really taking stances," she said. "You never really hear of the Hispanic youth being proactive on things. I think that this first year, Greenwich is starting to see the young Hispanic leaders."