RECENT ARTICLES

Voces Inocentes- A Film depicting El Salvador’s Civil War from a Child’s Experience

LA-Artist Project Highlights Work of LA’s Chicano Artists

Support Latinas with Cancer in Washington DC Area

In Their Boots - Military Families affected by Immigration System

DTV Acceso Hispano Centers Achieve the Objective with Outreach to the Elderly in Puerto Rico

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Voces Inocentes- A Film depicting El Salvador’s Civil War from a Child’s Experience

Multi Award Winner - Based on the true story of screenwiter Oscar Torres’s embattled childhood, Luis Mandoki’s Innocent Voices is the poignant tale of Chava (Carlos Padilla), an eleven-year-old boy who suddenly becomes the ‘man of the house’ after his father abandons the family in the middle of a civil war. In El Salvador in the 1980s, the government armed forces are already recruiting twelve year olds, rousting them out of their classes at the local middle school. If he is lucky, Chava has just one year of innocence left, one year before he too, will be conscripted to fight the government’s battle against the peasant rebels of the FMLN. Chava’s life becomes a game of survival, not only from the bullets of the escalating war, but also from the dispiriting effects of daily violence. As he hustles to find work to help his mother pay the bills, and experiences the pangs of first love for a beautiful classmate, Chava’s tiny home village becomes both playground and battlefield. Armed ony with the love of his mother (Leonor Varela) and a small radio that broadcasts a forbidden anthem of love and peace, and faced with in imoossible choice of joining either the army or the rebels, Chava finds the courage to keep his heart open, and his spirit alive, in his race against time.

To see the trailer click here.

LA-Artist Project Highlights Work of LA’s Chicano Artists

The newly launched LA-Artist Documentary Project is dedicated to people working creatively in and around Los Angeles. This ongoing, collaborative project aims to document LA’s artistic diversity by producing a range of informative films alongside an online archive of ArtCards that bring voice to the city’s varied and eclectic creative framework.

LA-Artist Executive Producer Sofia Rose Smith has made a unique point to cover Chicano artists working in greater Los Angeles.

Read her portrait of painter Raphael Matias, pictured left, by clicking here.

Also, make sure to check out Director Oliver Shipley’s film that inspired the initiation of the LA-Artist project. “Murals of Boyle Heights”, below, chronicles community members’ perspectives of what murals mean to the past, present, and future of the historic East Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights.

Support Latinas with Cancer in Washington DC Area

Support Latinas with Cancer in Washington DC area during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and cut off traffic, save on gas, reduce pollution and look stylish!

Get your tickets at the Nueva Vida office, send a check or pay over the phone. Tickets are only $10 and the odds of winning are 1/500.

For more information log on:

www.nueva-vida.org/VespaUSA.htm
i...@nueva-vida.org

2000 P St. NW Suite 620, Washington, DC 20036

202-223-9100 or 1-866-98N-VIDA

Proceeds will support our programs to benefit Latinas affected by or at risk of breast cancer in Washington DC area.

1 VESPA LX 50 PINK Raffle

In Their Boots - Military Families affected by Immigration System

In keeping with the recent spate of independent films coming out about our broken immigration system, the folks over at Brave New Foundation (a great organization focusing on making media to raise awareness for social justice) have released a revealing documentary about two military families being torn apart by our immigration laws. “Second Battle” chronicles the struggles of Francis Barrio and Hota Ferschke, both immigrants and the wives of servicemen that fought in Iraq, now facing removal from the United States, despite their husbands’ service.

The film is part of the IN THEIR BOOTS documentary series, a BNF project that seeks to raise awareness of the sacrifices of American service members and their families. It’s a worthy project, and it’s great to see a film like “Second Battle,” which incorporates the struggle of many immigrants into that narrative. As the film points out, the likelihood of falling in love with and marrying a non-US citizen is a common scenario for many military members.

The inherent arduousness of life as one of today’s military families is clear enough, but when families like the Barrios and the Ferschkes also have to fight against antiquated and plainly illogical immigration laws, they are being torn apart. It’s a powerful film–heartbreaking, but also inspiring for all of us working for immigration reform that will keep families like the Barrios and the Ferschkes together. Check out the trailer above, then head over to the IN THEIR BOOTS page, to view the episode in its entirety.

Source: www.reformimmigrationforamerica.org

DTV Acceso Hispano Centers Achieve the Objective with Outreach to the Elderly in Puerto Rico

Acceso Hispano has been working with the FCC on its DTV initiative to successfully transition analog television users to digital television. We have developed a coalition of faith-based organizations to operate Walk-In Centers in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and in San Juan, Ponce and Patillas Puerto Rico. In these centers, Acceso Hispano, in conjunction with its faith-based partners, are offering coupon application assistance with wireless internet capability, as well as live demonstrations on the converter box installation process to support the community’s transition to digital television.
The Acceso Hispano Walk-In Centers in Puerto Rico saw a great need to focus their outreach efforts to serving the elderly. There may be several reasons why there was a substantial need in Puerto Rico to serve the elderly, among them:
•    There is an even higher life expectancy in Puerto Rico as versus the U.S. as a whole (78.58 years as versus 77.8 years)
•    There are high levels of migration of young Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland, estimated at 2 million people. As the total population in the island is just under 4 million, this migration is significant and some elderly may have been left behind.

“Padre Colacho,” as he is affectionately called by his parishioners at the Parroco Maria Auxiliadora Church in San Juan, states that the center has been an experience like no other. Padre Colacho is well known in the Puerto Rican Catholic community due to his extensive outreach, however, this effort has been unique in that it has brought him even closer to his parishioners, requiring home visits to those most in need—especially the elderly.  He and Aitza Garcia, the employee at the center have referred to the FCC-sponsored installers as much as possible, however the demand was so great, he also requested the help of church volunteers to go to the homes of his elderly congregants. Aitza explains that although the elderly would come to the center to learn through demonstrations, many found they still needed the on-site assistance, and younger parishioners would help the elderly to get the job done. Padre Colacho indicates that this has brought everyone closer together and has been an enriching experience.

Although Padre Colacho is our favorite celebrity in Puerto Rico, Nestor Murray is the star performer of our operations there.  A graduated Manufacturing Engineer with 9 years experience in the Aerospace Industry, Nestor is currently in search of full-time employment, and aimed for the stars with this temporary assignment.  As supervisor of the Sagrado Corazon Church center, Nestor demonstrated great discipline and dedication to conducting an effective outreach program by going at least twice a week, every week without fail, to the nearby lower income residential areas, the “barrios” and “residencias.” He was equipped with flyers and other literature to promote the service at the center. Through these efforts, his center has definitely achieved the goal of serving the elderly and economically disadvantaged, and through his diligence, more than doubled the results of other centers!

Jose Manuel Berdecia, supervisor of the Inmaculado Corazon de Maria Church, has also focused extensively on the elderly and is our favorite “son” so to speak, as he is only 19 years old, yet well trained in outreach through volunteer work in the past two years. Early in our campaign, Jose Manuel identified a nearby senior citizen residence, with 5 floors, and 15 rooms on each floor. Room by room, Jose Manuel informed the elderly in this residence about DTV and about our services, providing assistance for those that were immobilized and could not visit the center. He indicated that many did not realize or understand that they would completely lose signal, and were very grateful for his help.

And last but not least, Arlene Varela is a part time computer science teacher, and has been our supervisor for the San Juan Bosco Church. Arlene has also conducted door to door outreach to notify the nearby residential area of the existence of the center. She has helped several elderly in those door to door visits, with literature and guidance about DTV. In one of her visits, Arlene discovered an elderly disabled man who needed an outside antenna installed but did not have the money for the installation.  Arlene referred this to the FCC-funded expert installer, who successfully installed the antenna.

In all these instances, our Church partners have achieved the goal of reaching out to and serving the elderly and economically disadvantaged in their community.  Acceso Hispano is very grateful to them for helping us reach our common objective.  As is often claimed in their tourism ads, “Puerto Rico lo hace mejor,” or Puerto Rico does it better!