Hispanic Community

In an effort to help Hispanic parents, especially those new to the country, get involved in the school system, Elisa Montalvo, a Hispanic achievement specialist for Howard County schools, developed an academy for them. "We have many parents who are newcomers to the country, and they don't necessarily know how to assist the children and be better partners with the schools," Montalvo said. "We invite parents at the elementary level because it's easier for parents to learn the strategies while the kids are small."

As the sounds of Latin music filled the Timonium Fairgrounds, Efren Perez and his workers helped fill the bellies of hungry festival-goers with tenderly grilled flank steak cooked at his vendor booth. The 37-year-old owns a Colombian restaurant, Rancho Mateo, in Paterson, N.J., and, on weekends, looks to make extra money by serving food at Latin festivals. This year, he added Baltimore County to his itinerary, where he served food as part of the first Maryland Latin Festival. "It's a big community," Perez said as he looked around at the vendors representing other Latin American countries.

Baltimore's Hispanic community is trying to collect $4,300 this weekend to fly the body of Honduran immigrant Juan Angel Murrillo home for a funeral Monday. The 40-year-old father of six was fatally shot Sunday in the 2100 block of Barclay St. during an attempted robbery, police said. Murrillo had been in the United States for a month and was working at odd jobs so he could send money to his family in Honduras, said Enrique Rivadeneira, owner of the Latin Palace night club and president of the Hispanic Business Association.

Since the congressional supercommittee appears unable, or unwilling, to take a lesson from Indiana or Virginia -- where Republican governors have made spending cuts and delivered budget surpluses without damaging the social safety net -- members might wish to consider Puerto Rico and what its governor, Luis Fortuno is doing. Mr. Fortuno is Puerto Rico's first Republican governor in 42 years. In 2009 when he took office, the U.S. territory had a $3.3 billion budget deficit. Three years earlier, Moody's Investors Service downgraded the commonwealth's bond rating to junk status while in deep recession.

Pfc. Sandra Argueta-Copley can talk to abused Hispanic women in a way few officers can - she speaks their language. Copley, 29, has woven her Spanish-language skills with six years of policing experience and a personal interest in domestic violence issues to form a program aimed at lifting Hispanic women from abusive situations. Her initiative will be recognized tomorrow with a community service award, one of the top honors given by the Howard County Police Department. As a midnight-shift patrol officer and an on-call volunteer for the Domestic Violence Center, Copley said she passes out her home, work, cell phone and pager numbers to any woman she thinks might be a victim of abuse.

Annapolis Mayor Dean L. Johnson is taking his "City Hall Comes to You" program to the city's growing Hispanic community next month, the first in the series to target an ethnic group rather than a neighborhood.The forum, scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Griscomb building in Truxton Park, is part of the series that Johnson began in February. The previous six or seven meetings have targeted communities such as Eastport and Parole.The Hispanic population is "a growing part of Annapolis," Johnson said yesterday.

Anne Arundel County's Hispanic population wasn't even a blip on the marketing radar 10 years ago, but today its growth has caught the attention of public and private agencies eager to understand how best to deliver their messages to this expanding community. From 1960 to 1980, the county's Hispanic population more than doubled, from 2,273 to 4,595. By 1990, that number had risen to 6,815, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But how much the county's Hispanic population has grown since then is unknown.

Privacy at the cramped Centro de la Comunidad office in East Baltimore is a luxury. Battleship-gray filing cabinets serve as room dividers and crude conversation buffers.For three years, the staff at the outreach and social service center has managed to work there, practically whispering during job placement or family counseling sessions. But as Baltimore's Hispanic community has grown to an estimated 40,000, the center, in the 2700 block of Pulaski Highway, has been pressed to expand.With a long sought-after $200,000 state grant awarded at the end of the legislative session, the center will undergo renovations this summer that will almost double its size.

To bridge a cultural gap between Baltimore police and the city's growing Hispanic population, officers in one district were given booklets yesterday to help them learn basic Spanish.Called "Speedy Spanish for Police Personnel," the small packet offers translations for everything from a routine traffic stop to domestic disputes to dealing with crowd control. It also translates the Miranda warning."It is difficult for us to get the information we need to be effective," said Maj. John E. Gavrilis, commander of the Southeastern District, where several Hispanic groups have settled.

Misha Callahan gently prods 9-year-old Daniel to focus on the math problems in front of him. "Sit up straight," she tells the boy from El Salvador. His grip on the pencil tightens. Just before lunch, Callahan asks some Spanish-speaking pupils if they remembered to bring money for a field trip later in the week. "My mother doesn't have any money," one girl says. Before the school day ends at Germantown Elementary in Annapolis, Callahan finds a ride home for Lucia, reassures a mother that her son is not misbehaving in kindergarten and consults with school staff members about a pupil's repeated absences.

After a man was beaten to death early Saturday morning in what police call a hate crime— the latest in a string of attacks against Hispanics in the area — officers and neighborhood volunteers walked door-to-door to promote a dialogue with police and the Spanish-speaking community. Saturday night, police had made an arrest in the overnight killing in the 200 block of N. Kenwood Ave. Officers were called at about 2:15 a.m. for an assault and found 51-year-old Martin Reyez suffering from severe head and facial trauma after he was beaten with a piece of wood.

Maryland's fast-growing Hispanic population is about to have its first male representative in judicial robes, as Governor Martin O'Malley has chosen of defense lawyer Ricardo D. Zwaig for a Howard County District Court judgeship. There are two female Hispanic judges and O'Malley named Audrey Creighton, a third, for a Montgomery County District Court judgeship along with Zwaig. "I feel proud I've been selected," said Zwaig, 57, the father of three. "It speaks very clearly to the community," he said about his selection.

In an effort to help Hispanic parents, especially those new to the country, get involved in the school system, Elisa Montalvo, a Hispanic achievement specialist for Howard County schools, developed an academy for them. "We have many parents who are newcomers to the country, and they don't necessarily know how to assist the children and be better partners with the schools," Montalvo said. "We invite parents at the elementary level because it's easier for parents to learn the strategies while the kids are small."

Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold, who has made a priority of cracking down on illegal immigrants, reallocated money yesterday initially intended for an Annapolis organization that helps Hispanic residents after its leaders turned down the money. Leopold announced that he was giving $14,000 budgeted for a citizenship class at the nonprofit Centro de Ayuda-or Center of Help - to a church that is part of an alliance of Hispanic clergy. In an Aug.

When Enrique Carrillo and his wife moved to the area two years ago from Detroit, they had one non-negotiable requirement: Their new house had to have a backyard large enough to host the couple's Pachanga Cubana. And so yesterday, for the second year in a row, a bit of Cuba found its place deep in the Ellicott City woods. Politicians mixed with bankers and business executives to drink mojitos and discuss how they could be of better service to the region's growing Hispanic community. The word pachanga means "party" in Spanish, and the atmosphere was certainly festive, with guests gathered under tents on the Carrillos' verdant lawn and the smell of mint from the mojitos pervading the air. But for the Carrillos, there was another reason to invite people over on a Sunday afternoon for Cuban sandwiches and croquettes: the opportunity to make inroads in a community that is becoming economically powerful in the region.

At least 150 members of Carroll County's burgeoning Hispanic community gather weekly for Spanish Mass at St. John Roman Catholic Church in Westminster. Programs on everything from health issues to resume writing to traditional music and dance are offered on the third Sunday of each month after the afternoon Mass. Hispanic parishioners will receive an additional benefit at Mass today: a bilingual community guide and business directory, listing Carroll's doctors, stores and agencies that can provide services in Spanish.

When Enrique Carrillo and his wife moved to the area two years ago from Detroit, they had one non-negotiable requirement: Their new house had to have a backyard large enough to host the couple's Pachanga Cubana. And so yesterday, for the second year in a row, a bit of Cuba found its place deep in the Ellicott City woods. Politicians mixed with bankers and business executives to drink mojitos and discuss how they could be of better service to the region's growing Hispanic community. The word pachanga means "party" in Spanish, and the atmosphere was certainly festive, with guests gathered under tents on the Carrillos' verdant lawn and the smell of mint from the mojitos pervading the air. But for the Carrillos, there was another reason to invite people over on a Sunday afternoon for Cuban sandwiches and croquettes: the opportunity to make inroads in a community that is becoming economically powerful in the region.