Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers

After celebrating four decades of health and social services to the community with its 40th Anniversary Gala last May, the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS) is preparing for the next Gala on April 30, 2011 at the Cambridge Marriott Hotel. The Gala will raise funds for crucial services and honor four distinguished individuals who have made a difference in the lives of many immigrants.

MAPS’ Person of the Year Award, the highest award bestowed by the nonprofit agency each year, will honor Felipe Matos, a young Brazilian student from Miami, FL and a leader of the Trail of Dreams (www.trail2010.org) – a 1,500 mile walk between Miami to Washington, D.C., in defense of the DREAMAct. During the 4-month walk, Matos and his fellow walkers, Gaby Pacheco, Carlos Roa and Juan Rodriguez, participated in meetings, speeches, interviews and debates with the community. Their courageous journey gained attention and support all over the country and brought to light the shattered dreams of many thousands of young immigrants (including in Massachusetts) who, just like them, were brought to the United States as children and now face enormous barriers to access education because of their immigrant status.

The DREAMAct (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) is a piece of proposed federal legislation that would give young immigrants a chance to gain conditional permanent residency if they complete two years in the military or two years in a four-year higher education program.

“It’s always very inspiring to honor such wonderful unsung heroes of our community,” said Paulo Pinto, MAPS Executive Director. “It is especially great that the 2011 Person of the Year Award Recipient is a Portuguese- speaking youth who has been advocating for education and as a result has become a wonderful role model for youth and the future of our community.”

The MAPS Manuel N. Coutinho Outstanding Volunteer Award will go to Crisolita Pontes-Alves of South Easton, a volunteer at St. Patrick’s Church in Roxbury, for her important role in providing a variety of help and support for many years to Cape Verdean and other immigrants in the Boston area. Pontes-Alves also acts as a volunteer religious education teacher at the church.

The MAPS Jorge Fidalgo Community Service Award will be presented to Sister Elisete Signor, for her loving service to many Brazilian immigrants and their families through the Scalabrini Community Center at the St. Anthony’s Parish Church in Everett.

Dorothea Clinton of Cambridge will receive the MAPS Mary & Manuel Rogers Lifetime Community Service Award. A former member of the Cambridge Organization of Portuguese Americans (COPA), one of the two agencies that merged in 1993 to form MAPS, she worked tirelessly for many years to help Portuguese-speaking community members with barriers to housing, education, health care and other daily life issues.

“I am very excited with the 2011 award recipients,” said Joseph J. Vasconcelos, who was President of MAPS’ Board of Directors at the time. “I am very happy that Dorothea Clinton is being recognized for her many years of service to the Portuguese-speaking community. I have known Dorothea my entire life and I look forward seeing her receive the award”.

New MAPS Álvaro Lima Award to Honor Businesses

At its 2011 Annual Awards Gala, MAPS will launch a brand new award category – the MAPS Álvaro Lima Outstanding Business Award. The award will honor businesses that, through their own regular activities or by supporting others’ initiatives, have made the lives of the Portuguese-speaking communities easier.

“Our population has a special drive for a community-based kind of entrepreneurship,” affirmed Pinto. “We are proud to know that so many Portuguese speakers are part of the engine of our local economy. With this award, we want to show how much we value them.”

Choosing the name of the new award was a natural process. The current MAPS awards already honor members of the Portuguese and the Cape Verdean communities, two of the three largest populations served by the agency. The newly created award will recognize the third group—Brazilians. It was named after Álvaro Lima, the Director of Research at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, who was chosen for his longstanding commitment to help small businesses thrive in the greater Boston area. Just recently, he was a major force behind the I ExpoBusiness, a two-day Boston event where many Brazilian companies could offer their products and services to the broader public in a coordinated expositional setting. A former MAPS Board member, he has also gathered and contributed to important research on business and economics in the Brazilian immigrant community, and has worked with MAPS and other community leaders in the past to promote the idea of a Chamber of Commerce for Brazilian-American businesses.

“It is an extraordinary honor to be associated with this important award that recognizes the contributions of our communities’ entrepreneurs,” said Lima.

Nominations for the first MAPS Álvaro Lima Outstanding Business Award can be submitted by October 29, at 5 pm, through the 2011 Gala page nominations link on MAPS’ website: http://www.maps-inc.org/events/annual-gala/2011/. The 2011 Gala Co-chairs, Liz Chaves and Antonia Alves, also invite companies and organizations interested in sponsoring the event to please contact MAPS.

NOTE:  Alvaro Lima has been chosen as the first recipient of the award named after him!  Read more.