Citizens. Well, there are now plans set for a summit, a day of action designed to keep up the pressure on washington to lend a helping hand. Here to tell us more about the upcoming day of action, marcos crespo, our good friend, new york state assemblyman, brenda torres, prima not really director of the new York Regional Office of the puerto rican federal affairs administration. Thank you both. You were just back on the island. In fact, it was you, it was the council speaker, the governor, the mayor, as well. And i was there with you back in mission. Around . What was the goal, and what was accomplished . Well, joe, we were hosting conference. Yes. Which weve now rebranded as somos now. We believe we are a community thats existing and in power now. And we had the participation of not only the folks you mentioned, but we registered close to 600 registered guests at our conference. And we participated in these conversations. We participated in a rally that took place with hundreds of thousands of puerto rican people calling for fairness in healthcare. And we had a number of events really geared towards promoting this diaspora and the needs of puerto rico and making sure that that new york puerto rico connection is strong. But it wasnt all talk, and it wasnt all demonstrations. The governor opened up tell me about the new office, the new York State Office that is now in puerto rico. Plenty of substance, not only in our workshops, but that effort you mentioned. The governor was with us, Governor Andrew Cuomo and governor Alejandro Padilla together. Yep. The number of our delegation opened up the very first office of its kind. Its the office of new york trade and tourism in san juan, puerto rico. Uhhuh. It also houses a taste of new york store to promote new york products. But if you remember, we talked about an investment the governors looking to make in new york, 5 million for tourism that well promote between new york and puerto rico. For that effort. Mmhmm. And the Ribbon Cutting of that office took place this past weekend. Brenda, are you seeing ripple effects in terms of what youre hearing back on the island, that the efforts of new yorkers like marcos and the governor and the some sort of impact, measurable impact . Are we at that point yet where change . Definitely. I think the diaspora is very well connected to the Puerto Rican Community and the leaders, the advocates in the island. And i think they are starting to see the efforts, the lending hand that were giving them from the diaspora, as something very positive. And, you know, and also the fact that most of their relatives, you know, are living in the united states. So, definitely, yes. Weve talked about that quite a bit. At the same time, you know, its not Getting Better quickly. And im just gonna highlight some numbers because i want to put this into perspective for people. Weve talked about this on tiempo numerous times, and heres why. They just missed a 400million emergency loan. Or, actually, they had a loan, and they spent it the government. They had to. Revenue estimates were slashed by 355 million. So, thats money they thought was coming in, but was not. Its getting worse not by the day, but by the minute. With that in mind, the effort must be to get washington to act not now yesterday. Theres no question theres no question that this is puerto ricos on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. And these issues and this financial situation, the fact that the Healthcare System is on the verge of a collapse were a few months away from that unless something changes mmhmm. It was important that as we take all these steps as a diaspora the gathering in orlando was a gathering of leadership within Central Florida to highlight the importance of that community election. That was in october. We knew that Somos El Futuro was coming as an opportunity, a platform for these discussions to take place. Out of the 600 participants that came with us, there must have been close to 70 elected officials not only from new york, but from florida, pennsylvania. We had congressional officials, many of whom learned for the very first time the intricacies of this dynamic and whats happening in puerto rico. All right. And now we have a game plan. Now you have a game plan, and youre gonna move that to washington. So, you just had orlando, you just had puerto rico, and now youre gonna take the message to ill have you talk about that and the day of action thats planned when we come right back on tiempo. More on the recent summit in puerto rico and the upcoming day of action in washington. Also, we are officially in its not all bad news were in, officially, puerto rican heritage month. And, man, were gonna tell you about el gran tour, featuring a wide variety of boricua art. Still ahead on tiempo, Laguardia Community college just received cuny received it a multimilliondollar grant to help better educate the Large Population of immigrant students there. Well show you how thats gonna tiempo. Its the holidays. And of course, Everyone Wants to get online at once. To watch things. Buy things. But slow internet makes it hard. Thats why its time to get fios. It has the Fastest Internet and wifi available. With speeds from 50 to 500 megs. And right now, youll get 50 meg fios internet, tv and phone for 79. 99 a month online for your first year. And with a 2 year agreement, so go online or call now. Get out of the past. Get fios. Welcome back to tiempo. Elected officials recently traveled once again to puerto rico to highlight the financial troubles facing the island there and its people. There are now plans for a summit day of action in washington. Marcos crespo, new york state assemblyman, brenda torres, director of the new York Regional Office for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs administration walking us through the details. Tell me about december 2nd day of action, but more specifically whats planned. So, basically we had this meeting in october 15, where, you know, National Elected officials of puerto rican descent were there. And at that meeting, we decided to do a followup in washington, d. C. , just to make sure we leadership on, you know, the Current Situation that were facing in puerto rico and the need, the real need for them to support us. So, is it demonstrations . Is it meetings . Is it both . Its a call to consciousness. Its an opportunity for the leadership of the diaspora to go out there very strategically, to meet with key officials and in particular committees, and let them know the diaspora stands strong with the people of puerto rico and whats at stake for 3. 5 million american citizens unless the next budget resolution that comes out includes some tangible proposals to resolve and alleviate the conditions. Let me illustrate whats at stake. The island has been holding back payments to suppliers and tax rebates to taxpayers. Theres talk of cutting Employee Work schedules by two days a week and the possibility of a Government Shutdown in december. If that happens, what happens . Well, i think at that point, all cards are on the table as far as what the reactions gonna be and how we need to proceed as a diaspora. Were working a responsible way as elected leaders to have the debates, to have the conversations to bring awareness to those that are responsible and have the power in their hands to make a change, and thats the federal government. Those are our congressional officials, the president of the united states. He made a proposal to the congress. We believe that the Congress Needs to act seriously on that proposal, and if not, we believe the president is gonna do everything he can administratively to resolve some of this. The president you have a day of action. The president s plan was called a congressional plan of action, which i think called for more investments, greater reform, bankruptcy protection for the island. Mmhmm. Which we once had. Which you once had. How close are we to convincing congressional leaders to act on that plan and make it happen . Brenda. Were gonna find out on december 2nd, when we have this conversation. You know, we have the support from the puerto rican congressional leadership nydia vel zquez, serrano, and Luis Gutierrez who are actually supporting us. And based on what theyre saying, you know, we just have to continue to push and continue to inform them on what the impact is, not only to puerto rico, but also to the stability in the united states. I picture you literally knocking on doors throughout the halls of congress. Coordinated effort. We know who were gonna go see. Meetings with. Were going with a purpose. This is not just going out there, holding up a placard, and expecting to be seen. Were going in there with a very specific strategy of educating congressional officials. In the preparation leading up to that, have any congressional leaders given you some indication that, okay, were looking at a vote on suchandsuch a date and suchandsuch a time . Well, we know what the schedule is of activity in congress, and we have officials who have already expressed tremendous support. This is an opportunity for us to go to other folks who need to be involved in this conversation, not just democrats republicans alike and administration officials. This is about them not only further understanding whats at stake for those 3. 5 million americans, but also knowing that we all stand strong, that politically, the diaspora stands strong. And the diaspora is much more than just new york and florida. Theres many other states where Puerto Rican Community is growing strong. And many of them growing as people leave the island. Absolutely. Marcos, un placer. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Coming up next on tiempo, we are officially in puerto rican heritage month. We will tell you about el gran tour, featuring a wide variety of boricua art. And still ahead, a multimilliondollar grant for cuny and how it will benefit the many students at Laguardia Community college. Back. Meet the moores were the moore family, and were always looking for ways to enjoy more. So we called Time Warner Cable and got even more than we expected. Call now to get more. More speed. Like, 300 meg. More tv shows and movies on demand. More places to make more unlimited calls. Call now. For 89. 99 a month, youll get 100 meg ultra fast internet, hundreds of hd channels, and unlimited calling to international destinations. We find more good things every day more ways to watch more shows. On more wifi connected devices in our house. Time warner cable made switching easy with a one hour arrival window. They even made sure all of our connections were up and running before they left. Why settle for less, when you can get more call now. For a limited time, get a free trial of showtime for one year, and ask how you could get a 300 reward card. Call for more, now. El gran tour is a unique, oneofakind opportunity to experience the works of noted puerto rican visual artists. It is all part of this months celebration of puerto rican heritage. Your timing is perfect because this tour is happening all day today, and here to tell us more about this great event, once again, our good friend brenda torres, from the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs administration. John macelwee is the director at the center for arts and culture at hostos Community College, one of the places to go. Miguel trelles is an artist taking part in the special event. This is your baby, right . Yep. Yes, and you see her smiling because this is the first time youve done this, correct . Yes, its the first time. We supported the creation of the puerto rican creative diaspora, which is a group of Creative Leaders in the united states, not only in new york. But new york we launch it from new york because were providing all of the infrastructure that currently exists in new york to support the creative industry. But the idea came from something you saw working in puerto rico. So, we held a small conversation with Creative Leaders and visual artists. And then, you know, we were wondering, whats the best way to actually revamp the community, the Creative Community . And we were talking about the noches de galeria. I dont know if you remember the gallery nights. In puerto rico. In puerto rico, where all of these galleries in the old san juan area used to, like, open their doors. We would just go from one gallery to the other, and it was just a great way to engage with those artists and support them economically. So, before i get to john because hes one of the sites thats hosting how many different locations are there for people to go see work . We have six sites that are managed and also showcasing work by puerto rican artists, and the other one is the metropolitan museum of art, where we are actually hosting this breakfast. Fabulous. Yeah. John, your place is one of the locations, is it not . Yes, were excited to be there and be part of the tour. And what can people see when they show up later today, before it ends at 4 30 . Weve got a terrific exhibit. Jorge soto s nchez, a nuyorican artist, died almost 30 years ago at the age of 40. This is the largest collection of his work shown since his passing. My, my. And these works got collected from individual collectors and from the museum. El museo del barrio and other places loaned us works to have this very complete exhibit. Okay. And one of the most talented puerto rican artists ever. Ever around, yes. And hes known for his velorio de oller, sort of a redoing of a traditional puerto rican painting. Okay. Miguel, your work will be on display where . Absolutely. At the Clemente Soto v\lez Cultural Center in the Lower East Side of manhattan. Okay, and by trade, your work painter . Im a painter. I do this thing called chino latino. Im also a printmaker. I like to do serigrafia, sort of silkscreening in the old puerto rican style to advertise yep. And the artifacts that you will have on display showcase what . I have my studio, and there will be landscapes, you know, with very classic dynastic paintings and tropical colors, you know, infusing those paintings. We also have a great show called boricuba, which i curated, including the work of 12 puerto rican artists and 12 cuban painters. Im looking at some of your work now. Yes. Tell me about these here. You will see that today, later today, in the studio. Those are in the studio. Cultures, particularly the Chinese Culture of fine painting with a little bit of that acid tropical color that is so redolent of the caribbean. Chino latino. Chino latino. Its not just restaurants. Its also art, too. Thats right. Thats right. [ laughter ] do you hope that viewers or people who attend these events today will learn more about the art or the artist or both . We are hoping for both. Were not only bringing Puerto Ricans as participants, but also collectors and also government officials. And we kind of want to spread the word of the great talent that is out there and the great work. Theres so much going on currently in new york city and lots of new artists also coming from puerto rico, actually, establishing themselves in williamsburg and other areas of new york city. And we kind of want to open the doors for them to be able to engage with the community and thrive, as well. Its sounds like your display will educate people of both, not only the artwork that theyre viewing or soaking up, but a little bit about the artist, as well . Thats correct, and gladys peaacosta, the curator of the show, will take people on a tour of the paintings themselves, and all different styles and mediums. So, very educational. Yeah, i just wanted to say that this is something that is not done just, you know, with one entity. We want to thank gail brewer, manhattan borough president , the metropolitan museum of art. We also want to thank the bric house gallery for opening their doors for the closing reception, which is soon, at 4 30, and also thank the Bronx Council on the arts, hostos Community College, whos providing the launch. I mean, this is a very collective effort. Weve only got about 20 seconds left, and i want to be sure people know the places. Run the list again of where you can go to soak up the exhibits. Hostos and. Yeah, there are two routes, one that goes taller boricua, hostos, and wallworks. Thats the uptown one. And the one going down is loisaida, Clemente Soto v\lez, and the bric house gallery in brooklyn. Youll see miguels work there. Yep. Good luck. Que bueno. El gran tour its happening now. Make sure you get there before 4 30. Straight ahead on tiempo, money for the cuny Graduate Center, benefits for students. Sit tight. Well explain what that means you see this look on my face . Sfx growling thats not anger, thats hunger. So im gonna have a snack to make me feel better and once i do you will see a look of satisfaction and contentment blossom across my face. See, now i feel better. Make your tummy happy mmm great news for students, so many of them latinos, at Laguardia Community college a 3. 2million grant will help the students by first benefiting the graduate students who often teach them. Here to tell us about the grant and the specific plans for the newfound money howard wach, assistant dean and director of the center for teaching and learning at Laguardia Community college, and luke waltzer, director of the teaching and Learning Center at the cuny Graduate Center. Welcome to you both. Im trying to figure out who was more excited when the news came in you for the students there or you for cuny because you get to dole the money around. Either way, it was grand, im sure. It was wonderful, and its great news for both the Graduate Center and for laguardia and for for Higher Education because theres a new model that were going to be trying of taking doctoral candidates and bringing them to a Community College like laguardia and helping them learn how to work in that environment. Have you seen this model work in other places, or is this a wing and a prayer were gonna give it a shot . We havent seen this model. Okay. Its a brandnew model. Nobodys seen this model. Yeah. When you go ahead. At the Graduate Center, our students teach almost 200,000 cuny students a year across 8,000 courses, and they do so often with various levels of support. And this gives us an opportunity to really think about what it means to support them as theyre learning to teach in ommunitycollege contexts. Luke, are they teaching as part of their own graduate curriculum . Or are they teaching because, professionally, thats the direction they want to go . Both. This supports their coursework. They have fellowships that are five years in length, and they teach for three of those years. Mmhmm. But were also at the Graduate Center really trying to broaden the professional development that they get so that our students are prepared for careers in a variety of contexts. And increasingly, Community Colleges are great options for our students when they finish their phds and their vibrant intellectual careers. Before i get back to howard, tell me is the grant something that you were awarded . Or is the grant something that you applied for and you won . This is a grant from the andrew w. Mellon foundation, and they worked with us to shape a grant that they would be happy and pleased to fund, given their funding priorities. Yep. So, it was over a matter of months of backandforth with them to shape what the grant would be. And one of the reasons this caught our attention, howard, is because so many of the students at Laguardia Community college are latinos. Is it half . Is it more than half . Its close to half. Okay. Its in the high 40s, 40 something, 45 . Laguardias population is overwhelmingly lowincome, immigrant, firstgeneration college, underserved students. And we believe that it will be a huge advantage to the doctoral candidates coming from the Graduate Center to learn from our faculty who have developed, over the years, ways to teach these students that are effective. That fascinates me. Get to a specific. How would teaching an immigrant student in one way be different than they might find at a college in the midwest . Well, our students come from over 100 countries. They speak over 100 languages. And they come with an enormous range of experience. And one thing that our faculty learn how to do and that we help to develop this ability with them is to draw from that experience and to take it seriously as part of what theyre learning in an art history class or in a composition class or in a philosophy class. I would suspect, just from a realm of cultural awareness, that goes a long way, in terms of speaking. It absolutely does. Go ahead. This is terrific for Graduate Center students. And, you know, were very well aware of the fantastic support for teaching and learning that happens at laguardia. And for our graduate students to who are unique and fascinating and are bringing so much to the classroom that our students can learn from and to take that on in their careers in terrific. The length of the grant is 3. 2 million over four years. Do you get annual installments . To you . The moneys doled out in two installments, separated by two years, and most of the funding goes go cuny Graduate Center students to support their fellowships. And the first installment has not yet arrived, right . It hasnt arrived yet. It will arrive an anticipation of the launch of the grant next fall. Which gives you some ample time to develop to coordinate and develop a plan. Luke and i will be working closely on the exchange between the doctoral candidates at the Graduate Center and our faculty. The program will set up a kind of mentoring system where our faculty who participate in the program will be working directly with the graduate students. Theres also a portion of the Grant Funding that will go directly to laguardia students. Oh, fabulous. In the form of enrichment activities. Such as . Museum tickets, theater tickets, the range of things that its possible to do in new york in support of humanities programming. Safe to say a range of things that perhaps might not have been available or affordable to many of those students. Absolutely. Yeah. Thats just great. Im gonna ask you to fastforward a little bit. How do you think youre gonna measure the impact that this money has made on the lives of students at laguardia . Well, we measure the impact of our initiatives in a couple of different ways. We look at the success rate of the students, how many of them complete the courses, how many of them graduate. Mmhmm. Which is really the thing we strive for. We also do a lot of surveying. We look at attitudes. We look at ways in which students have learned things at the end of the experience versus what they came in with at the beginning of the experience. And well be doing all of these things. Much better than just looking at some grades and saying, oh, this was here and this is here and this is how we measure. So, continued success, guys. Congratulations on the grant. I think its fabulous for both the graduate students and, obviously, the students at laguardia. Great, great news. Before we go, how about this a look at the Community Calendar for this week . Next saturday in the boogie down bronx thats right a celebration of puerto rican heritage month. Do not miss the 10th annual artisan fair and book expo. Thats happening at the Hostos Center for arts and culture, located at 450 grand concourse. It goes from noon till 7 00 great event. Also, next sunday morning in queens, our good friends at the new York Immigration Coalition are holding another key to the city event. Theyll be partnering with the consulates and the legalservice providers to help out immigrant new yorkers. So many questions answered there. Thats happening at 9 00 a. M. At Public School 61, 9850 50th avenue in corona, queens. Again, thats next sunday morning. Much simas gracias. We covered a lot of ground today. We thank you for spending part of your sunday with us. If you missed any part of our show, dont worry. You can watch it at abc7ny on the web on your tablet or even on your smartphone while youre on the train. Im joe torres. Thanks for watching. Well see you again next time on