MAPS 10th Annual Community Awards Banquet

Saturday, March 22, 2003, 6:30 pm

Knights of Columbus Hall
75 West School St
Charlestown, MA

2003 Award Winners with Agency Representatives

Jorge Fidalgo Community Service Awards
Presented To:

Valdir Alves, Cabovideo
For his outstanding efforts to inform the Cape Verdean community about important events and issues, and his continuing support of MAPS.

Valdir Alves is known throughout the community because he always participates in community activities in addition to reporting on them through the Cabovideo cable TV show. He has worked to promote education among young people and has been involved for many years in bringing important issues to the community through his show. Valdir graduated high school in Cape Verde, did his radio communications training in Lisbon and was a radio announcer in Cape Verde before immigrating to the US. He has worked for 10 years at Cabo Video and is the Producer/Host of Porton Di Nos Ilha, a Portuguese/Criolu language radio program.

Lilia Cavalcanti and Fatinha Kerr of Marlborough Community Services
For their dedicated service to the Brazilian and Portuguese communities of the Metrowest area.

Lilia Cavalcanti has been performing community service for more than a quarter of a century. She worked with homeless and abused children, troubled youth and domestic violence victims in her native Brazil,where she also taught elementary school. After immigrating to the US in 1998, she began as a teacher's aide in the Framingham Public Schools. Since 1999, she has been working as an advocate and immigration specialist for Marlborough Community Services Inc. She also has a Bachelor's Degree in Theology and has been Co-Pastor of the Renewed Baptist Church in Framingham since 1999.

Fatinha Kerr has worked as an interpreter, translator, tutor and bilingual educator. But most of us know her as a community leader who has done outstanding work for the Portuguese-speaking communities of Metrowest. A Portuguese immigrant, Fatinha was Executive Director of the former Organization of Portuguese American Immigrants. She also served from 1992-1995 as Coordinator of Multicultural Services for Marlborough Emergency Services Foundation. Since 1995, she has been Executive Director of Marlborough Community Services, Inc. Fatinha is a Trustee at both the Marlborough Hospital and Marlborough Savings Bank, as well as a Board member of the Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce, a Rotary club member, and recipient of several awards including the 1998 Governor's New American Award.

Mary & Manuel Rogers Lifetime Community Service Award
Presented to:

Ana Velasco of the Framingham School System
For her continuing efforts to educate and advocate for the Portuguese-speaking communities in the Framingham area.

A school psychologist who has worked with the Bilingual Portuguese Program in the Framingham Public Schools for the past six years, Ana Velasco is a Brazilian immigrant who has dedicated herself to supporting other immigrant families. She is a parent organizer and, as a community volunteer, she has presented many workshops and conferences about the differences between the Brazilian and American educational systems. Ana Velasco dedicates herself to informing parents about bilingual education, their rights, and the importance of being involved in their children's education. She holds a Master in Science degree and a Certified Advanced Graduate Studies title in School Psychology from Northeastern University. She was previously an outreach therapist and a director of a bilingual day care center for Portuguese families on the North Shore. She also has served on the Citizen's Council of the Consulate General of Brazil in Boston.

Manuel N. Coutinho Outstanding Volunteer Award
Presented To:

Ruth Costa, MAPS Youth Program Volunteer
Deusimar Ruth Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and moved to the United States in 1992. Ruth has a degree in Psychology from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro).

Ruth’s greatest contribution to the Portuguese-speaking community began in 2001 when she began volunteering for the MAPS Youth Program in Somerville. Ruth became a Youth Counselor, providing individual counseling three times a week to all youth looking for assistance. Her dedication and success stories made Ruth the main contact in the Somerville community for any issues related to Portuguese-speaking youth. Later in 2001, Ruth was invited to develop a Life Skills curriculum for the youth. Ruth started facilitating these Workshops in September 2001 with the collaboration of the Somerville Community Youth Program and MAPS. Throughout her workshops she also provided individual counseling to all the youth and parents involved in the process.

Agencies like the Cambridge Health Alliance, Powder House Middle School, Parent Information Center and Somerville High School have all recognized the importance of Ruth’s volunteer work. She has offered workshops to parents and youth in the school system and most recently has been invited to provide workshops in various churches in the community.

The MAPS Youth Tobacco Prevention Program in Somerville was terminated in July 2002 due to budget cuts. But Ruth has continued serving youth in that area and works in the Somerville office every day to fill the vacancy left by Vanessa Santos, the former Youth Coordinator, who was relocated to a different program in the Dorchester office. Vanessa and her sister, Tatiane, another MAPS employee, are Ruth's daughters and they also are following her example in providing many volunteer hours to the Youth Program.

Today the MAPS Youth Program in Somerville offers a variety of activities, including Life Skills workshops, individual counseling, a photography course and advocacy activities on a full-time basis. This volunteer program owes its success to our full-time volunteer, Ruth Costa, and to our 12 volunteer Peer Leaders who dedicate their time to help Ruth coordinate the various program activities. The youth and Ruth always participate in community meetings and other events promoting the welfare of the area's immigrant populations.

Person of the Year Award
Presented To:

Teresa Cardoso, Somerville School Committee Member
Born in Somerville, MA of Azorean-born parents, Teresa Cardoso has dedicated her life to serving her family and her community.

After graduating from the Somerville public school system, she attended the Chandler School for Women in Boston's Legal Secretary Course. She has worked for the Law Firm of Finnegan, Underwood, Ryan & Tierney for 20 years, and is currently the Office Manager.

The first Portuguese-American/Bilingual elected official in Somerville, Teresa has served on the Somerville School Committee since 1992, when she was first elected from Ward 2. She was School Committee Chairperson in 1995 and has also served as Chairperson of the Finance, Curriculum, Rules, Personnel and Buildings & Grounds Subcommittees. Teresa has been a member of the Lincoln Park Community School PTA in Somerville since 1984, serving as President from 1985-1991. She is a Co-Founder of The Friends of Lincoln Park, and has been a Board member of CAAS (the Community Action Agency of Somerville) since 1992, serving as Board President for five years. In 1994, she was a Somerville PTA Council Scholarship Honoree. Teresa has also been a member of the Title I Parent Advisory Council since 1996.

In 1996, Teresa Cardoso served as Grand Marshall of the “Dia de Portugal” Parade in Cambridge. She was a guest of Vice President Al Gore at a reception given in honor of Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1997. She served as a member of the Somerville Human Rights Commission Advisory Committee for two years, and has been on the Union Square “Spice of Life Festival” Committee since 1999.

Teresa has chaired the Ward 2 Democratic Committee from 2002- to the present, and served on the Somerville High School 150th Anniversary Celebration Committee from 2001-2002. A long-time member of MAPS, she also is a member of the Amber Lily DaRosa Fundraising Committee.

Teresa has been married to José Natalino Cardoso for 26 years and has one daughter, Jennifer Lee Cardoso, a second grade teacher at the Kennedy School in Somerville. She also comes from a family with a long history of community service, including her brother, former MAPS Executive Director Victor Do Couto, and her sister Ligia Do Couto Taylor, a former MAPS Board member and volunteer for many years.

Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers, Inc. All rights reserved.