Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board

Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 (Click on thumbnail to see poster)

Downtown Aurora will play host to a two-day music festival that will honor the bicentennial of Mexico and the collective Independence Days of various Latin American countries.

Fiestas Patrias will be held from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, and from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19, at the North River Street Park and adjacent parking lot south of the park, located along River and Vine streets.  Admission to the event is free.

A wide genre of Latin music will be performed on the main stage both days to coincide with a children’s amusement area.  Food vendors will be serving up dishes catering to many culinary delights from Latin America to traditional festival food dishes like hamburgers, barbecue and corn on the cob.  Local businesses also will man booths with offerings for festival patrons.

A parade will step off at noon Sept. 19 at the corner of River and Benton streets, heading to Broadway Avenue, Galena Boulevard, Stolp Avenue and Downer Place before ending at Middle Avenue.  The parade program begins at 11:15 a.m. in front of the Paramount Theatre, 8 E. Galena Blvd.

The event is being sponsored by the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (AHCC) in conjunction with the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board. 

People interested in becoming a Fiestas Patrias event volunteer, vendor or sponsor, or for more information, call AHCC Executive Director Norma Vazquez at (630) 264-2422.

JOIN US FOR:
Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 Kick Off Fiesta

August 11, 2010

6-8 pm

La Quinta de Los Reyes

36 E. New York Street

Aurora, IL 60505

Please come and learn more about the event, how to become a sponsors and get more details about volunteering for the event!

Fiestas Patrias Music Festival Slated for Downtown Aurora in September.

Festival will honor the collective Independence Days of various Latin American countries.

Aurora, July 22, 2010: The Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board is pleased to announce Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010, a celebration of Latin American heritage and culture.

…The two-day music festival will take place in downtown Aurora on Saturday, September 18th from noon to 10 pm and Sunday, September 19th from noon until 8 pm. Reestablishing the Fiestas Patrias festival is timely considering the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico and several other Latin American countries’ declarations of independence from Spain in 1810. Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 invites the community to celebrate and recognize this event.

The festival series will be staged at North River Street Park and the parking lot immediately south of the park. Main stage entertainment will take place throughout Saturday and Sunday. Various genres of music will be performed, including banda, mariachi, cumbia, tejano, norteno, and rock. A children’s amusement area will be featured on both days.

Vendors will provide booths specializing in festive foods and many different culinary delights from Latin America, along with traditional festival food fare of hamburgers, Bar-B-Que, corn on the cob, hot wings and other delights. Additionally, local businesses will provide booths with offerings for festival patrons.

The parade steps off at 12 noon, Sunday, September 19th at the corner of River Street and Benton Street; then to Broadway, Galena Boulevard, Stolp Avenue, Downer Place, and ending at Middle Avenue. The parade program begins at 11:15 am in front of the Paramount Theatre.

Admission to Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 is free to all ages. The Aurora Police Department will coordinate the festival’s security efforts, and volunteers will make up the vast majority of the event staff. Anyone interested in becoming a Fiestas Patrias Aurora 2010 event volunteer, vendor, or sponsor, or for more event information, should contact Norma Vazquez, Executive Director at (630) 264-2422.

About the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce:

For over 18 years, the Aurora Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has been the leading regional advocate for the economic and civic interests of the Hispanic business community. The Chamber’s mission is to facilitate access to resources which promotes economic growth in the Latino Marketplace.

About the Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board:

The City of Aurora Hispanic Heritage Advisory Board is a non-partisan advisory board that is community-based and funded by the City of Aurora. The Advisory Board recognizes diversity throughout the City of Aurora and aims to educate the public about the history of Hispanics that helped shape the City.

Aurora Artwalk (Click on thumbnail to see flyer)

City officials are hoping business owners and residents on the near east side will attend a series of three upcoming meetings to provide input into the continued revitalization of their neighborhood.

The neighborhood, roughly bounded by Lake Street, Liberty Street, North Avenue, and East Avenue, has been designated a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA) by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since 1999. One consequence of that designation has been the availability of funding to local businesses. The loan program, Section 108, has led to jobs being created through the establishment or remodeling of a medical building, restaurant, florist, and daycare facility. The city has been working on updating the plan, “To best leverage federal dollars as we go forward in revitalizing the area”, according to Karen Christensen, Aurora’s Manager of Neighborhood Redevelopment.

The meetings, which will be held June 3, June 29, and July 22, are designed to collect direct feedback from residents and businesses in the area as to how they want their neighborhood to look, the needs they believe need to be met, and suggestions into its long term future. An advisory board consisting of representatives from Waubonsee Community College, the Quad County Urban League, East Aurora School District 131, the Aurora Economic Development Commission, Family Focus, Rebuilding Together Aurora, the Aurora Regional and Aurora Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Aurora Downtown, and Aurora Township has been meeting since January to begin updating the original plan.

Christensen said they have contracted with the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to assist with garnering input from residents and businesses in the revitalization area. She said that ideally, attendees will go to all three meetings as they are meant to build off of one another.

For example, at the first meeting, CMAP will present demographics and census information in the target area and compare it to similar information in the city as a whole. They will then ask a series of questions to attendees as to how they want their neighborhood to look and suggestions for the future. The answers of all attendees will be recorded electronically and used during the second meeting which will feature an MPC Developer Panel. The members of that panel will work directly with residents and business owners to explain what may be feasible from an economic development point of view including ideas for new housing, retail, or mixed use development. The third meeting will be an analysis of the attendees’ views along with the ideas of the developers that will be integrated into a final plan that will be submitted to HUD in August.

“Because this area is designated as an NRSA, we may be able to take advantage of other federal programs that will lead to housing and economic redevelopment much like the Section 108 Loan”, said Christensen. “These meetings present excellent opportunities for those who live and work in the neighborhood to have a stake in its future.”

All of the meetings will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Fred Rodgers Community Center, 501 College Av., Room 315.

For more information call 630-631-9270

AURORA–The city will once again send gifts to Aurora residents in active military service who are stationed in the United States or overseas. Service personnel will receive a one-pound box of mixed nuts and a card in time for the holidays. The mixed nuts are provided by the Kiwanis Club of Aurora.

 “Our service men and women have chosen to unselfishly give of their time, and in some cases, risk their lives, for our country,” said Mayor Tom Weisner. “We want each of them to know how much we appreciate their service.”

Names and mailing addresses of Aurora citizens in active service may be phoned in to the Mayor’s Office of Special Events at 630-844-4731 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or e-mailed to syoung@aurora-il.org.

The deadline for submitting names is Friday, Nov. 13.

Northern Illinois Tejano Cultural Society (NITCS) Scholarship sponsored by 83rd District State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia

Join the NITCS on October 24, 2009 as we present the 2009-2010 NITCS Scholarship Recipients. This event will be held at La Sierra De Aurora located at 2121 East New York Street; Aurora, IL 60505. The dinner is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with scholarship presentations and tejano dance to follow thereafter. Tejano Entertainment will be presented by Tejano Express and local DJ’s.

2009-10 NITCS Members will receive the discounted rate of $25 per person. Non Members cost will be $30 per person. Tables of ten can be reserved with a prepayment of $250. For additional event information, please contact Sarah Escareno at 630 361-4053. For additional membership information, please e-mail Ruby at Rubye2k@aol.com 

AURORA, Ill. — Aurora University’s Vernon Haase Speaker Series will present “My Name Is: Networking & Power” by Carlos Ojeda, Jr., at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in Crimi Auditorium in the Institute for Collaboration at 407 S. Calumet Ave. in Aurora.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

Ojeda, a professional motivational speaker with business background, will discuss developing career management skills in networking, power communication, and professional etiquette to launch and maintain successful careers. 

Additionally, he will offer strategies for success in business and how to think proactively about professional success. 

College students and area youth will learn first-hand strategies that contribute to success in the professional world. 

“Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders in business, government, education, health care and non-profit sectors,” Ojeda said. “We discuss how to build skills today to prepare for a bright future!”

Ojeda is nationally recognized for his dynamism and appeal to younger audiences. He seeks to empower young people across the country as they build and frame their thinking about what it means to be a career professional in the 21st century.

About the Speaker

The son of immigrant parents, Ojeda has become one of the most dynamic speakers under 30 in America today.

His story began on the streets of Newark, N.J., and continued in Reading, Pa., where his parents saw opportunities for themselves and their children.

As a youth, attending school proved difficult for Ojeda. Not understanding his social, economic and cultural background, many of his high school teachers told him he would never amount to anything.

Yet his drive, passion and dreams led him to overcome obstacles and pursue a career of lifelong learning and educational success as the first person in his family to graduate from college with honors.

He reminds youth to “never, ever, ever let anyone tell you who you are or what you will become. That’s your destiny to fulfill, no one else’s.”

Ojeda received his bachelor’s degree in business management from Bloomsburg University and his M.B.A. from Kutztown University, both in Pennsylvania.

Call (630) 844-6259 for more information.