The Paid Leave Podcast

Celebrating Diversity During Hispanic Heritage Month

• The Connecticut Paid Leave Authority

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National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated from September 15th through October 15th. The reason it starts on September 15th is that it coincides with the independence days of several Latin American countries. This month celebrates the cultures, histories and contributions of Hispanic people.

In this episode, we find out about the rich culture and history of the Hispanic Community in Connecticut. Co-chairs of the Stratford Hispanic Heritage Committee, Gladys Ramos and Olga Pena, emphasize their efforts to raise funds for scholarships and the importance of community events like the Latin Festival and Three Kings celebration. They also share their rich Hispanic traditions, and stress the importance of family, religion and partnerships in the community. Andrea Torres Fodor is the President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Bridgeport, and she talks about the beauty of her homeland of Ecuador and the importance of family and traditions. She discusses the growth of Hispanic businesses in Connecticut, and the importance of their contributions to the greater Bridgeport community. She talks about the Latino Business Expo, which is a great way to network with other businesses and to find out about the resources available in the state that are here to help the Hispanic businesses and community. She also highlights the significance of Connecticut Paid Leave, particularly the caregiver benefits, which align with the multi-generational households in the Hispanic community in Connecticut. She said it's important to make sure people in the Hispanic community know about state programs like CT Paid Leave that can help them when they need it most.

To get in touch with the Stratford Hispanic Heritage Committee please use this link:   (20+) Hispanic Heritage | Facebook

To get in touch with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Bridgeport please use this link:  HCCGB | Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

To get information or to apply for benefits please go to:  CT Paid Leave

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Nancy Barrow:

Hello Connecticut, and welcome to The Paid Leave Podcast. The title basically says it all. I'm Nancy Barrow, and I will be delving into this new state program and how it can help you and your family. This podcast will give you information you should know about Connecticut Paid Leave and maybe just a little bit more. Connecticut Paid Leave brings peace of mind to your home, family and workplace. Welcome to The Paid Leave Podcast. National Hispanic Heritage Month begins each year on September 15 and goes through October 15, and this month celebrates the cultures, histories and contributions of people from various countries like Spain and Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, just to name a few. And the start date coincides with the Independence Days of several Latin American countries. Hispanics and Latinos have played a major role in the US population growth over the past decade, and are now the second biggest population in the United States. In Connecticut, according to a recent report, it says just over 637,000 people identify as either Hispanic or Latino. I have a few guests joining me today in the conversation. First are the co-chairs of the Stratford Hispanic Heritage Commit tee, Gladys Ramos and Olga Pena. Thank you both for being on the podcast, ladies.

Gladys Ramos:

Thank you for asking us to join you.

Nancy Barrow:

Tell me a little bit about what the Stratford Hispanic Committee does and and what you do as co chairs. It's pretty cool. There's two women as co- chairs, I might add.

Olga Pena:

Just to give you a little history, we've been doing this for 19 years. This will be our 20th year, coming in 2025 and I was Gladys first volunteer. So basically, what we do is we volunteer to make these events happen. And during the year, we have the Latin Festival, which is also under the umbrella of celebrate Stratford. And that came 10 years after we started celebrating in Stratford Hispanic Heritage. The town really embraced us as being a focal point of the town, as Stratford is growing to be a large population of Hispanics here in town, we do that. We celebrate three kings. We are main focus, personally, my main focus has always been education, empowering our children to do better. And so what we do is we raise dollars, monies to give scholarships to Hispanic youth that are either involved in the Hispanic community or want to be involved with the Hispanic community and want to continue their education in college. So that's really our focus right now. We're working on having a gala in February of 2025 to raise funds as well for the scholarship.

Gladys Ramos:

What we do and what we are allowed to do with the town of Stratford, is celebrate events that are important in the culture, in education and the people embrace it. Olga mentioned three Kings the first Sunday in January in many Spanish speaking country, three kings is celebrated as a big deal. I mean, I remember when I was, when I came from Puerto Rico, as a little girl, I remember in the town I lived in, it was celebrated and not the people come together. The children are invited to come. We have a small celebration. We give them gifts. We have community services. They donate gifts to us, and it's just a fun day of a little snack, music, and it's reminding the children of their culture. And many of their culture. We celebrate the kings so we do that. Olga also mentioned the scholarships. Now, in a month or so, we start getting applicants from Spanish, Latino, Hispanics, children that want to go to college. We start getting their applications that we get as a big job when do the applications, and we continually as all that works in different community or activities in the community, and so do I. We're always focusing on scholarships. I'm always begging for money. How's that? Now? I'm really good at asking, and it's 500 or is it a 200 whatever is given. Because when we give these children scholarship, they use it well. I remember years back and still some students, when I see them in the community, to go, you know. Of that $200 scholarship you gave me, but I bought a computer, and it still works. I mean, whenever there is an opportunity and we're invited to speak, or we're invited all the participants, and like I said before, many of the community committees and boards and so do I, so people know when they see us, they run because we might be asking for money!

Nancy Barrow:

Or someone to volunteer or somebody to volunteer.

Gladys Ramos:

Basically, we bring out our richness. I mean, our we have so much to give and so much to learn from, because it goes vice versa. We have the Hispanic community, you know, enriching their lives with, you know, non Hispanic traditions and and we do the same. So to us, it's a beautiful blend of cultures as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage.

Nancy Barrow:

Well tell me bit about growing up in the Hispanic community. I mean, you were talking about your childhood from Puerto Rico and coming in. Do you have a favorite memory from your childhood where you've felt strongly a sense of belonging in community? Are there certain memories that you have as growing up?

Gladys Ramos:

My memories are church. My mother used to take us to church and celebration of like I mentioned, the three kings, the food, you know, the smell of the food, holidays. I mean, holidays are so important in our community, like any other community, you know, it means a lot to us family. You know, everything is a family member.

Olga Pena:

I'm first generation American here. Brought up in Brooklyn. My parents are Puerto Rican, and they came here in the 40s, and so my memories were really family foods, speaking Spanish to my mom, which was very important. And to this day I'm bilingual my children. I think I've passed that on to my some of my to my children, some of my children. I have two children. My son is my first born is better at it than my my second, but she's working on it. The fact that we have family religion, I remember in Brooklyn and the apartments celebrating three kings with my aunts. I think that was very important to us. The religion was key, faith, love, family and the Empower. The only thing that my parents, I remember, being empowered to be educated. Make sure you do your homework, make sure you go to school. It's important. Don't do anything until that's all done. That's empowering your children to do better.

Nancy Barrow:

Yeah, I think that's really important. Tell me about the food and the music and the dance. Why is that so important to the Hispanic community?

Olga Pena:

It's so rich, and so so flavorful the people, we tend to be loud, but yet we tend to have a lot of fun with each other. So we, I think, I think Hispanics takes life lightly, you know, we we play hard, we work hard. And so that's really key about our culture and our foods and dance. I mean, how could you not want to dance merengue and salsa?

Gladys Ramos:

We have so much fun every time we go to an event or something, and there's a celebration and there's a wonderful band or a wonderful group dancing, we'll we recruit them, and I would bring them to our celebrations at our festival, the most important thing is the food and the dancing. We make sure we have a a dance floor now and this year was bigger.

Nancy Barrow:

Do you prefer to speak Spanish when you're with other people in your community? I mean, I mean, I know that you mentioned that Olga with your family, that you think it's very important that you, you know, give that to your family and you continue that. Do you prefer to do that when you're with other people in your community?

Olga Pena:

I think Spanglish has become very popular. We'll talk, I mean, I'll talk with my kids and my and my family and friends, you know, both in English and in Spanish, because I am bilingual, but you know, again, we do like to speak both languages. Sometimes you kind of, you know, take a step back, because it could be a little rude to do that in front of people that don't understand the language. So I think that we're very conscious of that, and maybe that's why Spanglish has become an issue. But no, I think I enjoy speaking Spanish or Gladys sometimes or speak English. It depends on what we're doing and how we're doing it.

Gladys Ramos:

I love speaking Spanish. You know, you need to be aware of your surroundings when you know people don't understand. I think a long time ago, people used to feel uncomfortable. Nowadays you are surrounded by so many languages. It's like with the story you hear one language another. So I don't think people feel as offended as they do. I love speaking Spanish. I really do it. And like I said, as a former Spanish teacher, it's fun!

Olga Pena:

Not only that, I think it's really important nowadays that our children, second, third generation, learn the language, because it's an opportunity to serve as a community. Yeah, our community has grown with so many different language, Spanish language, people from different countries, that job opportunities actually are better. That's one thing that we lack here. We lack educating our children in many languages. It doesn't have to be just Spanish. The biggest language I spoke in the US, I believe, would be Spanish. It is. But you know, in Europe, people speak various languages. Again, they do no problem. So I think that that's something that our country should really be looking at.

Nancy Barrow:

What would you like people to take away from Hispanic Heritage Month and from this podcast? What would you like people to know who are watching or listening.

Gladys Ramos:

Maybe once in a while, you know, just be friendly to people. Just appreciate people and their culture and respect it. That's what I think.

Olga Pena:

I think that has whether you're of Hispanic descent or not. I guess we should all try to be cordial to each other, understand each other's culture. But as a Hispanic, I'd like as a first generation Hispanic and having raising children that are born here in the US, I'd like Hispanics to understand that it's important to empower our children, whether you're Hispanic or not, empower our children to do better, educate, get involved, be a part of the community. Take a take a seat at that table to make sure that others are doing the same. You know, Gladys and I have worked so hard in this community, and we see that. I know it's hard when you work and you have children and family, but we've done it, and you can do it too. So be part of the community. Be part of where you live. Teach your children Spanish. If you can, you even should learn Spanish and continue the culture that we have. We all have different, diverse cultures, but yet, like Gladys says our tagline, together, we are one. And that's really cool. It's really important. It's really nice. Again, I think that the American Community love Hispanic foods. I think they love the music, not all, but you know, for the majority, everywhere, oh, I really enjoyed coming to this festival because I really look forward to it every year. So it's a rich and empowering community that we are. So we need to continue to grow.

Nancy Barrow:

And how can people contact you at the Stratford Hispanic Heritage Committee, if they wanted to help you or volunteer?

Gladys Ramos:

They could contact us. We have our our email and our information on Facebook. Also, I would like to make it a point that we are looking for sponsors for our gala. Our gala will be February the eighth, 2025 and that money we get are for scholarships. We need to give more money, more scholarships to the children, and now we're thinking of adding some of the other high schools from the area so we could give more. Support Hispanic businesses support the Connecticut Leave and just have fun.

Nancy Barrow:

I think that that wraps it all up. I want to thank my guests, Gladys and Olga, the co chairs of the Stratford Hispanic Heritage Committee, for joining me to talk about Hispanic Heritage Month. Thanks for being on the paid leave podcast.

Olga Pena:

Thank you very much. Bye.

Nancy Barrow:

Now joining me to talk about Hispanic Heritage Month. Is the current president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of greater Bridgeport. Andrea Torres Fodor, welcome to the paid leave podcast Andrea.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Good morning. Nancy, thank you very much for the opportunity. We're excited to be here. Thank you for giving us the space, of course.

Nancy Barrow:

And why don't you tell me a little bit about what Hispanic Heritage Month means to you,

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Well, Hispanic Heritage Month is incredibly important to me. As a woman that was born and raised in Ecuador and moved to the United States at a very young age, I was actually very excited to learn that in the United States, there was a whole month focused. Celebrate the heritage that comes from all of our different countries, to me, is an opportunity to just highlight the beauty of of what the Latino culture in general is, and to and to give others from the different communities the ability to learn a little bit more about who we are, how vibrant our culture is, how there, there's so many facets to who we are. We are more than music, and we're more than than just a different language. All of the different Latin American countries, the Hispanic countries, have their own little flavor. And you know, knowing something about Mexican food or Mexican culture is valuable and is special. Yeah, you may be missing out on so much more if you don't get to embrace the whole Latino culture, the Hispanic, Hispanic community. So if you go down you know, you know the hemisphere, and you start with, you know, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Central America in general. Then you come down to Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, all these different countries who are so vibrant and so similar and yet so different. I think that is an opportunity to highlight that, that each one of our countries has its own identity, united by the common ground, which is we speak Spanish, right?

Nancy Barrow:

Tell me a little bit. Paint a little picture of Ecuador for me.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Well, I'm going to be a little bit biased, but I will tell you that Ecuador is incredibly beautiful. One of the most important parts about my country is the natural beauty that it has. So Ecuador is a small country located right on the equator, right on South America. North to us is Colombia, South to us is Peru, and we have pacific coast. So because of the Andes mountains that cross through Ecuador, we have a beautiful biodiversity. We have four zones, four natural zones. We have the highlands. That is, all of the, you know, the the the Andes cross through the center of a country. Then the Amazon forest. We have the coast. And then those of you who know, the Galapagos Islands are part of our country as well. So we have four very diverse and very different zones within, you know, this tiny, little country that it is, Ecuador. One of the things that I can tell you struck my husband, who is American, when we went to visit Ecuador, was when you land into Quito, you're able to You're welcome by the Andes, right by the beauty of the Andes Mountains, so perpetual snow, with the Cotopaxi, you know, kind of staring you down from from the south, and then within, within an hour or two, you can be in a very in a humid rainforest. In mind, though, you know, which is a beautiful town that I just recently visited with my friends earlier in the year, and you find yourself in a completely different climate within an hour and a half, maybe two hour drive. So so that is, that is what makes my country, Ecuador, so very special and so beautiful.

Nancy Barrow:

Well now you have made me want to go buy a plane ticket go down and visit your country, because it sounds incredible. Why don't you tell me a little bit about what you do at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as president, which I think is fantastic as a woman as president, you know, I'm all for that.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Thank you. Thank you. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been serving the Latino business merchant community for over 50 years. I was fortunate enough to get connected to the chamber about right before covid, I want to say maybe six years ago, and very quickly I found out that there was definitely opportunities for me to get involved with with the business network community in the greater Bridgeport area and beyond, and that there was opportunities for us to spark up a little bit more enthusiasm into highlighting, you know, the kind of work that we did. So at the time, a good friend of mine, Marisol Herrera, she was the president, and I became part of the board. Very quickly, took on the responsibilities for being vice president, and then after my ourselves, you know, wonderful service to the chamber. I became president. This is the end of my first term. And the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is a volunteer board, you know. So all of the people that serve with alongside me are all volunteers, people from the community, you know, Latino leaders that are experts in each one of the year, individual industries. Part of the mission of the Hispanic Chamber, part of the mission of me as the president, is to continue to support their the mission, which is to provide our business community the ability to connect with others. Connect them with Connecticut paid leave. We connect them with other organizations that a lot of the Hispanic merchants are not even aware exist. There is a great growth in the Hispanic community. One of the reasons behind that is the acknowledgement. There's some of those merchants who might have gone and worked for somebody else and have learned their trade, know that their business is something that they can do, and they're like, You know what? I can do it on my own. So part of the education that we provide is exactly that, saying, you know, we can, we can learn. We can teach you how to set up your LLC. We can teach you how to go and create your own brand. We can connect you with, you know, key members of the community that either provide the services for free or that can, you know, teach you and and guide you and charge you, you know, you know a price that is appropriate to to you as a small, micro business. One of the most impactful conversations I've had over the past six months, where would Connecticut paid leave I had members of your team reach out to us proactively to kind of, like, educate us and tell us how we can, you know, disseminate this information to our to our members. And that was that was big to me. It was important for me to understand and to get to realize that there was true partnership coming, you know, from your agency, seeking the opportunity to to educate more and to do what your job is, to do right to to to let people know that these benefits are available to them and that they can take advantage of them if they need them. Because, as I had mentioned to you in the past or just before. It's not part of our culture and the Latino culture. You work and you work and you work. And if you're sick, you keep working. Because in our in our it's embedded into our, our way of being raised, almost that you know, you just work. You kind of like muscle through it. And there's nothing wrong with the with the strong work ethic. Yet when you need something, if the possibility is there for you to take advantage of it, then that's something that we need to share with those who can benefit from.

Nancy Barrow:

Can you tell me a little bit about the 2024 Latino business expo. It's at the Knowlton in Bridgeport on October 18, and I hear it's a lot of fun. So what can we expect? We're going to be tabling there and getting our information out to all the small businesses that you have and all the people that come. So tell me what we can expect.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Well, you can expect a good old Latin party on October the 18th. So for the past four years, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been hosting the Latino business expo at the Knowlton and what we what we do is it's a resource fair and business expo that is really the best description to it. We have over 60 vendors that come in, set up their booths and have the ability to do business among each other, and also have the ability to display their their services and their and their products to the public. This event is open to the public, and it's free to the public, and you know, it is a wonderful celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month in the Latino business community as a whole. We have, you know, all different industries being represented large banks. We have, you know, MT bank is our main sponsor, and we could not possibly do that without them. We have Cabaniss and Associates, who is our title sponsor. They are, you know, an immigration law firm that recently has expanded their operations here in the state of Connecticut, and a variety of different of different, you know, businesses there. So what to expect? You can come in and enjoy a wonderful evening filled with information, entertainment. We have an open bar open throughout the entire event and food samplings from our members. That is something that we take pride on. When we are looking at events that we host. The Hispanic Chamber looks into our members first. We go back to our members and say, Hey, member a this is the kind of business event that we're trying to do. Are you interested in catering it? Can we give you the business first? And oftentimes they say yes. So you are not only going there to to see, you know, a variety of different vendors, but you are seeing the members of the chamber being fully represented.

Nancy Barrow:

What would you like people to take away from Hispanic Heritage Month and and from this podcast,

Andrea Torres Fodor:

One of the things that are important to me is to to show that, you know, for me, representation is key. You know, being given the spot in your podcast, to be able to come in talk on behalf of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and on behalf of my community, it is a great honor for me so learning that you the you can do more when you put the time and the effort into it, and when you really want to highlight something beautiful about your culture, your household, your family, your job, you know there's ways to to respectfully do that and broadcast it and share it with the with the public. And he spent a heritage month to me. It's more of an opportunity to to really engage with others, right? Go beyond just oh, it's Hispanic Heritage Month. They get a whole month to themselves. The perspective, in my opinion, what I would like for people to take out of this is, here's my opportunity to learn something different about the people that live around me. There is a great amount of Latinos that live in the United States. Spanish is the, is the, is the most spoken language other than English in the United States. So for those in the community who may not know enough about us, engage. We want to. We want to learn more about you. Learn a little bit more about us. Because I do truly believe that it is that the differences that we have, the beauty of our backgrounds is something to celebrate and embrace for growth, rather than to divide us. So Hispanic Heritage Month is a good opportunity for you to just learn, open your open your senses, to all that Hispanic culture can bring to you and and, you know, find yourself pleasantly surprised to learn maybe something that you didn't know before.

Nancy Barrow:

Yeah, I think enriching your life and and learning more is always important, right? It's always important to learn, of course. How can people contact you with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of greater Bridgeport.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

You can visit us on our website. Our website is www, dot h CC, GB, dot O, R G, that is www.hccgb.org, or you can email us at info@hccgb.org,

Nancy Barrow:

Any final thoughts about Hispanic Heritage Month or Connecticut Paid Leave.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Connecticut Paid Leave, in my opinion, has been an eye opener, and it has been one of those things that I'm very proud to share and to learn a little bit more about I myself received a wonderful education from when you and I had a conversation about what, what you know as an employee of a company, you should do to protect yourself and what your your the possibilities to support others are. The caregiver a portion of the of the Connecticut paid leave is something that is really important, and it hits home with the Latino community, because, as you may be aware of, in the Hispanic community, multi generational homes are are the norm. They're not the exception. Multi generational homes like mine, where I have my mother, who lives with us are the norm. And knowing that if the in the event my mom was sick and had, you know, some surgery that require support from me, who is her caregiver, and the Connecticut Paid Leave is there for me to potentially take advantage of that, if that became, you know, an event for us is huge, and I don't think a lot of people realize that. So there is different, you know, parts of the Connecticut Paid Leave Act that you know, I think are important to to know. But in my opinion, the caregiver act is something that directly affects and supports the lifestyle of the Hispanic community and the state of Connecticut, because, as I just mentioned, you know, multi generational homes are the norm for us, not the exception. And as you have an aging parent with you, the needs are simply just there. They just, you know, as part of the aging process. So I think that that is one of those things that I really would love for, you know, the listeners, to dive a little bit more into and to come in and talk to you guys about on the day of the event.

Nancy Barrow:

Well, thank you so much, and we're so happy that we have this partnership, you know. I think it's very important. Like you said, family is huge, and that's one of the things that we support. We support families, you know, and it's terrible that you'd have to choose between your job and taking care of a family member who's sick. You know, especially in a tragic situation like that. You know, we have the great things, like, we'll give you up to 12 weeks of income replacement if you have a baby, or if you're adopting or you're fostering, like, those are wonderful things. But when, when you need it, when someone is sick, it's it's really nice that it's there, and I'm thankful that we have this wonderful partnership. And we're really excited about partnering with you and being there on October 18.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

We thank you for supporting us. We thank you for reaching out to us. And you know, as I mentioned before, we are excited. We look forward to continuing our mission, which is to share valuable information to our members and to the community as a whole. And you know, Connecticut paid leave is certainly one of those things that we want people to learn more about.

Nancy Barrow:

Well, I want to thank my guests, the current president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of greater Bridgeport, Andrea Torres Fodor, for all this great information, and thanks for being on the Connecticut Paid Leave podcast.

Andrea Torres Fodor:

Thank you Nancy it was my honor.

Nancy Barrow:

For more information or to apply for benefits, please go to ctpaidleave.org This has been another edition of The Paid Leave Podcast. Please like and subscribe so you'll be notified about new podcasts that become available. Connecticut Paid leave is a public act with a personal purpose. I'm Nancy Barrow, and thanks for listening.

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