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dancing and cultural activities. Classes in Salsa,Merengue, Flamenco,Tango andBellyDancing took place on evenings
and weekends.
H
ousing
P
rograms
A
wakenings
Círculo submitted a proposal to New York State’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistant Program to secure
funding for Homeless Housing Assistance Programs. Círculo had obtained funding in the 1990’s and wanted to
provide additional housing for homeless individuals, especially victims of violence. Sarah Brewster and Kathy
Ballesteros worked on the application but this was not approved. They submitted the application three more times
before it was finally approved in 2006.
In 2003, Círculo de la Hispanidad created civics classes for its English as a Second Language students based upon
discussions of the Civil Rights Movement. This program was spearheaded by Angelo Rivera with support from
Barbara Dubow Bernardino and Gil Bernardino.
This unique program used the Civil Rights Movement as a teaching tool to educate participants, many of which
were not familiar with the history. Video excerpts of documentaries were shown depicting the story of the civil
rights era from the point of view of the ordinary men and women. A diverse group of leaders participated in group
discussion regarding their personal experiences from that time. Speakers included Elders, community professionals
and representatives from local universities and civil rights activists.
2004
D
ay
C
are
C
enter
P
rograms
in
2004
D
iga
S
í
a
la
B
uena
S
alud
P
eer
E
ducation
T
raining
S
ite
Part of Círculo’s business plan for financing the construction of the Center was a Day Care Center. To facilitate this,
the agency obtained a grant from the Dormitory Authority and the Office of Children and Family Services to operate
a day care in the amount of $800,000. This was a monumental sum and the agency was thrilled to receive it, funding
however was contingent on having a building. Even with this grant, Círculo still did not have the financial means to
build the Center. David Boone and Gil Bernardino worked diligently using this grant as leveraging to solicit funds
and other lenders to support the Center and provide financing for the construction but no one would give Círculo a
loan. The Dormitory Authority provided an extension to Círculo and the agency continued to work to find a lender.
Círculo experienced one of the most productive years of its operation in 2004. Its annual program budget was
over $3,000,000. Círculo’s largest department was its Education Department. Just six years later, Círculo’s
Education Department would have a budget of less than $5,000 supported only by a small grant from the Village of
Hempstead. Loss of funds meant eliminating critical programs that had provided English as a Second language
classes and programming to support gainful employment for many years. In 2004, however this was still in the far
distance and the agency flourished with programs and services to meet the many needs of the community.
Círculo was one of four organizations nationwide awarded funding from the Human Resources and Service
Administration, HRSA, for a three year HIV peer education training program. Lisa Wright prepared and submitted
the proposal for funding. The Peer Education Training Site (PETS) program was an intensive four day training to
provide those most at risk for HIV skills on how to educate people on minimizing risk of HIV infection. Extensive
data collection tools were developed for cross-site data analysis and a bilingual curriculum was developed by Laura
DiClementi. Group discussions were lively and the training brought together groups of people that would not
ordinarily spend time together.
Diga Sí a la Buena Salud means “say yes to good health” and was a collaborative effort with Long Beach City Hospital
and Winthrop University Hospital to engage the community and educate them about the importance of preventive
screenings and health services available to the community. Círculo worked with both hospitals to engage the Hispanic
community and link them to care. Winthrop Hospital fully embraced the idea and created a large health fair which
was held for years where food was offered and individuals could receive free health screenings. This resulted in a
significant increase of Hispanics using Winthrop Hospital’s services. Long Beach Hospital did not take advantage of
the grant Círculo provided to increase medical care access to the Hispanic community.