Hispanic Roundtable celebrates 40th year as catalyst for education, empowerment, economic development

CLEVELAND, Ohio – José C. Feliciano has worked his hardest to achieve parity and opportunity in all aspects of life for Greater Cleveland's Hispanic community.

Feliciano is the chairman of the Hispanic Roundtable, a volunteer organization made up of Hispanic leaders who inspire the Hispanic community to achieve parity in the civic, economic, educational, political and social life of Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. The organization is also a catalyst and advocate for the Hispanic community through empowerment, education and economic development, he said.

Feliciano grew up in Puerto Rico, but would often get asked if he was Jewish because of motivation he gets from Rabbi Hillel: "If not you, then who? If not now, then when?"

On Saturday the Hispanic Roundtable celebrated its 40th anniversary of Convención Hispania . The convention is held every three years. What's important to note is the conversation doesn't end and then reconvene at the next convention three years later.

What do we do the day after? What happens the day after? Feliciano said.

The free event, held at Max Hayes High School in Cleveland, also offered free food, music, resource fair, health fair, workshops, essay contest for a college scholarship, art contest for Cleveland Metropolitan School District students and more. The huge celebration welcomed Hispanic Heritage Month which runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

Yary Cora was raised in Cleveland but born in Puerto Rico and is a volunteer with the Hispanic Roundtable. She agreed that it's important to continue conversations after the convention because the off years are the years where planning can take place and it's a time to promote and keep the community engaged.

"This (Convención Hispania) is something special to the Cleveland area," she said. "We utilize Max Hayes as a education hub. This is important for us (Hispanic community) to be put on the map."

The Convención Hispania is a huge undertaking, but Cora stressed it's so important to constantly keep the wheels turning on advancing the community.

The biggest part of the Hispanic Roundtable was a Q&A with actress and dancer Rita Moreno. Moreno, 92, who was born in Puerto Rico, is best known for her role in 1961′s "West Side Story," in which she played Anita. In her career she has been awarded an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony - a combination commonly known as an "EGOT."

Moreno was happily surprised by a performance from a Latin dance group. Afterwards, Feliciano asked Moreno questions about her childhood in Puerto Rico and when she moved to New York City with her mother. She shared the challenges of finding acting work as Latina roles weren't available, she said.

As Feliciano got into questions about the Hispanic community today, Moreno said to a large crowd in the high school's gymnasium that she is confused about why the Hispanic community hasn't gotten as far she had thought in her life.

"It makes me furious. And I'm also puzzled why haven't we gotten as far as the Black community? They did a fabulous job with themselves," she said. "I have nothing but admiration for the Black acting community. They've done it. We haven't. Why have we not done it?"

Feliciano strongly encouraged the Hispanic community to get involved regardless of if they were at Convención Hispania 2024 or not, by learning about the key resolutions and goals the Hispanic Roundtable has put forward this year, as well as resources available to the Hispanic community.

"Between conventions we (Hispanic Roundtable) try to implement with the idea of achieving parity and opportunity," he said. "People are always looking to the person to the left or the right to do something. His (Hillel's) notion 'if not you, who? And if not now, when?' That's a driving principle for us. It's enormously powerful. We end up using that (Hillel's quote) to do the agenda setting and the institution building. The ultimate vision is, 'How do you get parity here?'"

One of the most important things for the Hispanic Roundtable is to survey every Hispanic organization in the Greater Cleveland area and ask what its top issue is, Feliciano said.

Initiatives and issues the Hispanic Roundtable has helped address include coordinating vaccinations of more than 3,000 Hispanics during COVID-19 in communities; the Puerto Rican migration to Cleveland post Hurricane Maria; voter registration efforts; health disparities; immigration reform; education reform and more.

Moreno expressed that the Black population is identified by "their color practically."

"We (Hispanic color) are all colors. We are every color," she said. "We are Black, we are brown, we are tan."

A friend of Moreno's had a theory once of why the Hispanic community hasn't gotten as far: Latinas in America are not supporting each other enough. While Moreno was expecting the crowd to be mad at the thought, applause erupted the gymnasium.

"Some of us are Puerto Rican, some of us are Cuban, some of us are Mexican, some of us are Hispanic; from Spain, Mexican," she said. "And I think, according to her, she says, 'I think that the problem is we don't reach out to each other. We defend our own, but we don't bother much with the others who are also Hispanic."

The Hispanic community is very connected and has brought so much to the U.S., Moreno said, including food and music. She believes the community needs to make an effort to "hold our hands out to the rest of the Hispanic community."