This weekend, Representative Adriano Espaillat hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month program recognizing the significant impact of community leaders.
Including non-profits, and elected officials of the Dominican diaspora in the United States with special guest, the Honorable President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader.
During this event, Rep. Espaillat presented President Abinader with a series of proposals aimed at further strengthening the relations between the United States and the Dominican Republic while utilizing the vast resources of the diaspora and the needs of the Dominican population here in the U.S. The report consisted of recommendations addressing four main areas of impact: Productivity, Governance, Education and Health.
“The Dominican diaspora, especially here in the United States, represents the largest reserve of the intellectual, economic and socio-political heritage of the Dominican Republic,” said Rep. Espaillat. “The communities that live abroad and that in turn identify themselves as a functional and active diaspora, are right between the third and fifth generation, where historically it has been shown that their influences, social, intellectual, economic and political resources they have already reached levels of important projection and incidence, and which, in turn, are complemented by a sincere emotional debt of wanting to be useful to the nation of origin.
“I was honored to host President Abinader and share with him the proposals of interest to Dominican-Americans and throughout the diaspora, and in particular to address lowering taxes of Dominican flights to help families in their ability to travel between our two countries at greater ease. I am especially grateful to the hundreds of residents from my congressional district, who joined this weekend’s event to honor the presence of Dominican-Americans in our community and look forward to continuing my efforts in Congress to highlight the contributions of Dominicans to help strengthen our communities around the nation.”
Participants in the event included: the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC), Catholic Charities, the Dominican Lawyers Association, the New York Dominican Officials Organization (NYDO), and the Association of Dominican-American Supervisors (ADASA).
As well as representatives of the City University of New York (CUNY), Hostos Community College, local doctors, elected officials from various states of the United States, and representatives of the Dominican Consulate in New York, the Dominican Embassy in Washington, and the Dominican Government.
The proposals presented during the event addressed: Productivity, Governance, Education, and Health based on recommendations offered during a series of meetings and conversations with leaders of the Dominican diaspora in the United States, which were convened by Rep. Espaillat earlier this year with the aim of identifying the connection points between the vast resources of the diaspora and the needs of the Dominican population.
The document, entitled “First Comprehensive Cooperation and Development Agenda: Dominican-American Diaspora & Government of the Dominican Republic,” aims at establishing a bilateral comprehensive agenda to address the concerns and help benefit the lives of Dominican communities in the United States and abroad.
Currently, the Dominican population in the United States exceeds two million people.
Click here to view the photo gallery of this weekend’s event.
Representative Espaillat is the first Dominican American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and his congressional district includes Harlem, East Harlem, West Harlem, Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood, Marble Hill and the northwest Bronx.
First elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Espaillat is serving his third term in Congress. Representative Espaillat currently serves as a member of the influential U.S. House Committee on Appropriations responsible for funding the federal government’s vital activities.
He is also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), where he serves as the Second Vice-Chair and is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, where he serves as Deputy Whip. Representative Espaillat also currently serves as a Senior Whip of the Democratic Caucus. To find out more about Rep. Espaillat, visit online at https://espaillat.house.gov/.
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