Dominican Sunday

Oct. 25, 2004

Columbia University Faculty Hall, NY

The Dominican population has grown very significanly over the past decade. From the year 1990 until the year 2000, it the census has recorded an increase of close to 70,000 people. This, according to the Department of City Planning, however, is an underestimate, with the actual population exceeding over half a million people. Homegrown organizations have always played a key role in advocating for adequate social services. The Manhattan Valley Dominican community has been no exception. Dominican Sunday was formed by the Church of Scension with two primary goals--to maintain Dominican culture and to assist the local residents. Some of the areas where Domincan Sunday was of great help was educating non-citizenry about the citizenship application process, thereby encouraging these folks to become citizens and exercise their voting power, thus playing a more significant role in the advancment their community.

This was a great event. It started off with Dominican Sunday's Director, Altagracia Hiraldo, welcoming everyone to the event. She spoke briefly about the goals of the organization and the achievements they've accomplished over the years. Altagracia then introduced the Mistress of Ceremonies, Ms. Mary Joel Duran, of Channel 41, Univision. Who came up and thanked everyone for attending the event. She gave a brief overview of the purpose of the gala, and then introduced the chairman of the gala, Mr. Bill David. Mr. David, after welcoming everyone to the festive event, introduced the honorees for the evening, beginning with Miss Julissa Gomez, President of the Dominican Bar Association, who came up to receive her award and gave her thank-you speech, reflecting on everything the Dominican Sunday organiztaion had done to assist the Dominican community. Martin Garcia, of Bovis Lend Lease, was the next honoree. He also got up and spoke to the audience telling them about how great this organization is and the work they are doing. A special award went to Dominican Sunday Board of Director member Peter Bell, Jr, who, along with his father, had accomplished a great deal in the advancement of the Dominican community.

Among the leaders who were on and were Rev. Sixto Quezada, President of Dominican Sunday, and benefit committee member Chris Shirley. There was lots of dancing, great food, and lots and lots of festivities at the event. Leave it to the Dominican folks to really throw a party in celebration of everything they've accomplished. We at Liberty News would like to thank Ms. Altagracia Hiraldo for inviting us to cover this wonderful, festive event. Without her kind invitation, this article would never have been possible.

The African American and Caribbean Section is headed by assistant editor Annette Johnson, and Liberty News Online Staff Writers contributing articles. It will cover articles about the African American and Caribbean communities throughout the U.S.A. For more information, feel free to email us at lncarib@hadofnyc.org. If you are interested in having us cover one of your events, feel free to notify us one week in advance, so we can add you to our master calendar, and have our Liberty News Staff come and write an article about your event. Feel free to email us at lnevents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616 between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm, and ask to speak to Annette or Steve