MAPS Annual Community Awards Banquet 2002

Massachusetts Alliance Of Portuguese Speakers 9th Annual Community Awards Dinner
Saturday, May 4, 2002, Holy Ghost Society, Lowell, MA

Jorge Fidalgo Community Service Awards present to:

Jonathan Fine, MD
Co-Founder and Interim Director, Ana da Hora Workers Center, East Boston, MA
For his dedicated service to the Brazilian community of the Boston area.

Dr. Jonathan Fine has worked tirelessly with the Ana da Hora Center, as well as strongly supporting many other Brazilian community events and organizations. He is also the former director of the Massachusetts Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice. As the founder of Physicians for Human Rights, he has been an activist for many years in defense of national and international human rights. He holds an MD from Yale University and an MPH from Johns Hopkins. The former Director of Public Health and Community Health Services for the City of Boston, he also served previously as Medical Director and primary care internist for the North End Community Health Center. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Greater Boston Labor Council in September 2001.

Adriana Sena
For her excellent news coverage and support of the Brazilian community and of MAPS.

Adriana Sena's "passion for writing" is evident in the countless articles she has written about the Brazilian community in Massachusetts-for the Brazilian Times, A Notícia, and now for the Metropolitan Brazilian News, where she is a reporter. Her coverage has contributed greatly to knowledge and understanding of the community, its needs and interests, and the ways in which MAPS works to meet those needs. Before coming to the US, Ms. Sena was previously a journalist and, before that a teacher in Minas Gerais, Brazil. She holds a BA from the Escola Estadual Professor Antonio Fernandes Pinto in Minas Gerais.

Mary & Manuel Rogers Lifetime Community Service Award presented to:

Rita Mercier
Mayor of Lowell, MA

We recognize Lowell Mayor Rita Mercier for demonstrating throughout the years her friendship and support not only of the Portuguese-speaking community, but of all ethnic groups in the city of Lowell. In her new position as Mayor-to which she was elected this January-and formerly on the City Councilor, she has always been a great defender of the city's immigrant populations. Prior to becoming the Mayor, Mercier served a six-year term on the Lowell City Council beginning in 1996, topping the ticket in three elections. Mayor Mercier has supported a progressive agenda and economic development during her tenure on the Lowell City Council. She has worked tirelessly to make Lowell a destination city and to provide the seniors with a new Senior Center, to be completed in 2003. Mercier has served on numerous subcommittees including Auditor/Clerk Oversight, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, Neighborhoods/Traffic, Environmental, Council Rules, and the Youth. As Chair of the Parks and Recreation, she has led the development of 10 park renovations in the City of Lowell. On the statewide level, Mercier served as Committee Organizer for Committee to Elect Senator Henry (Scoop) Jackson for President in Brooklyn, New York, Senator Edward Kennedy Re-election Committee, and Committee to Protect Jobs and The Use of Convenient Containers, (The Bottle Bill). Mercier is a member of the Ladies Auxiliary at the East End Club and Honorary Member of the Post 662 VFW Honor Guard and an Honorary Member of the Greek American Legion. She also has served on the Board of Directors of several area organizations, including Friends of the Council On Aging.

Manuel N. Coutinho Outstanding Volunteer Award presented to:

Gunga Tavares

Aldegundes (Gunga) Tavares will receive the Outstanding Volunteer Award for her long record of going above and beyond the call of duty to help members of the Cape Verdean community throughout Massachusetts. She has always supported MAPS and the communities served by the agency throughout the years. Ms. Tavares has been Culture and Information Attaché for the Consulate of Cape Verde in Boston since 1995. She is also founder and president of the Common Threads Cape Verdean Community Conference, held every year in New England to air and discuss issues of importance to the community. In addition, she is founder and Director of Cimboa, a Cape Verdean Journal of Letters, Arts and Studies; program consultant for the "So Sabi" Cape Verdean Festival since 1998; a member of the Board of Massachusetts Cultural Council for Folk and Traditional Arts; and a liaison between the Consulate, the Boston Public Schools and Cape Verdean Scholars in New England. Ms. Tavares is a former journalist who previously worked for the US Information Agency as an international broadcaster with the Voice of America in the Portuguese language. Prior to that, she served as Editor-in-Chief for the National Television Praia in Cape Verde, among other positions.

Person of the Year Award presented to:

José Figueiredo

MAPS is honored to present its Person of the Year Award for 2002 to this distinguished scholar and community servant. José Figueiredo has been an educator for more than three decades, most of that time with the Cambridge Public Schools. Since 1989, he has held the position of Principal at the Charles G. Harrington School, a K-8 school with about 450 pupils. He recently announced that he will be retiring from that post after the current school year ends, and he will be sorely missed. Originally from the Azores, Dr. Figueiredo holds a BA from San Francisco State University, an MA in Romance Languages from Boston College, a Diploma in Portuguese Studies from the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and an Ed.D. in Bilingual Education and Administration from Boston University, among other credentials. He has completed course work for a Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Dr. Figueiredo previously served as Coordinator of Bilingual Education for grades K-12 for the Cambridge School Department. He has taught at a variety of other schools throughout his career, including Boston State College, the University of Massachusetts-Lowell and others. For several years, he has also taught Conversational Portuguese to adult learners at the MAPS Cambridge office. Dr. Figueiredo has been President of the Portuguese Continental Union of the USA since 1992 and a member of the PCU Board of Directors since 1978. He also organizes the Annual Portuguese-American Congress of Portuguese Language and Culture. He has been co-director of the Portugal 73 weekly Portuguese-language radio program on WSRO since 1973. Dr. Figueiredo has received a variety of honors, including Massachusetts Global Educator of the Year, 1995. Nor has he neglected his own home town, having served on the Hudson School Committee from 1982-1994, and formerly on Saint Michael's Pastoral Council in Hudson.

Copyright © 2002 Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, Inc. All rights reserved.