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The Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States
Serving our Community for 26 Years!
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The Online Newsletter of PALCUS
January 2018
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Table of Contents
PALCUS NEWS
COMMUNITY NEWS
- Remembering a champion: Joan Abranches
- Study abroad at UBI
- Janice Duarte: First Portuguese American Councilwoman in Westchester County, NY
- Manny Grova Jr. elected City Council President for the fourth time
- Portuguese from Soho
- Middlebury Language Schools Fellowship for Portuguese Teacher
- Luso-American Gregory DeMelo elected
- Inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge scheduled for May or June
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WELCOME NEW DIRECTOR
Lisa de Medeiros Morris
PALCUS is pleased to announce the election to the Board of Directors of Lisa de Medeiros Morris to represent the Portuguese-American community of Massachusetts. Ms. Morris is the Director of Cross Cultural Initiatives in the Division of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is Coordinator of the Medical Interpreter Training Program at Cape Code Community College. With over 28 years experience in interpretation and working with the immigrant populations of southeastern New England, Ms. Morris brings a new perspective to PALCUS' policy initiatives. PALCUS is excited to welcome her onboard and looks forward to working with her.
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RETIRING DIRECTORS OF THE BOARD
PALCUS announces the retirement from the Board of Directors of two of its most illustrious and active Directors. Dr. Onésimo Almeida (RI) and Dr. Odete Amarelo (MA) have given invaluable service and countless hours in support of PALCUS' mission and the Portuguese community at large. Their wisdom and energy will be missed. We thank them for their selfless service and extend best wishes for their continued personal and professional success.
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Onésimo T. Almeida, Ph.D., Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University, is a world renowned scholar, author and educator. He has served as a Director of the PALCUS Board since 2008.
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Odete Amarelo, Ph.D., Adjunct Instructor of Portuguese at Bristol Community College, is a highly respected expert in the field of bilingual education. She has served as a Director of the PALCUS Board since 2004.
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PALCUS working to ensure Portuguese is counted as an ethnicity option in the 2020 Census.
For changes in the Census questions the mayor of each city often appoints members of the Complete Count Committee (CCC). Committees consist of influential community leaders who are charged with developing a census awareness campaign that:
- Communicates the importance of the census through local messaging.
- Raises awareness of the census throughout the city.
- Motivates every household in the city to participate in the census by completing the questionnaire thoroughly and in a timely manner.
- Increases the city's self-response rate.
PALCUS is in talks with many of these Committees in areas with a large Portuguese American population. These Committees then present the proposed changes to Congress, which then needs to approve the new wording for the 2020 Census.
GET INVOLVED: WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Contact your elected officials, on a local and state level and let them know the importance of including Portuguese as an ethnicity in the 2020 Census.
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PALCUS Gateway Featured Business - OLD LISBON RESTAURANTS
T
his month's feat
ured business is Old Lisbon Restaurants of Miami, Florida
. They have a second location in South Miami which offers a friendlier family oriented atmosphere, in order to give its customers a true Portuguese gastronomic experience, the restaurant is complemented with a new Market & Bakery adjacent to the main room. Now, on the 25th anniversary, Old Lisbon opened its newest location in the city of Sunny Isles. They also offer catering services.
To look for more Portuguese businesses and organizations throughout the US (or add your own), please visit the Gateway
online.
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What's New at PALCUS?
 PALCUS announces that we are now using
memberplanet, a user-friendly platform that will help us to serve you better. It is an interactive service that will allow you to update your PALCUS member profile, track donations and dues and join PALCUS circles with members of similar interests all with the click of a mouse.
When you become a PALCUS member, you will be prompted to join us on
memberplanet. As always your information is confidential and will never be shared without your permission. Questions? Contact Graci for more information!
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REMEMBERING A CHAMPION
Joan Abranches, daughter-in-law of Aristides de Sousa Mendes
, who was instrumental in the campaign to have the hero honored in his home country of Portugal. has passed. Our thoughts are with the Sousa Mendes family in their time of loss. To read her obituary, please click here.
Joan and John-Paul Abranches
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Portugal has some bright young universities ranked among the best in the world. UBI, University of Beira Interior, is one of them.
UBI is a Portuguese public university ranked among the 150 world best young universities by the
Times Higher Education
. It has 7.200 students, from which 1.050 (15%) are foreigners coming from 40 countries.
The 29 undergraduate programs and the many masters and PhD programs of UBI cover a wide range of scientific fields, fine arts, engineering, human, social, business, medical, biological and pharmaceutical sciences.
At UBI, candidates of Portuguese descent pay the same tuition as national students, 1.037 euros per year, regardless of the program of their choice. Medical students pay the same as design, psychology or business students. International students of non-Portuguese descent, pay a tuition of 5.000 euros per year. Housing costs range from 100 euros per month for a single room to around 250 euros for a small apartment. Home cooked meals at any of the four dining halls cost 2,5 euros. Let's face it, this is much cheaper that in the United States.
In total UBI has 81 fellowships available for candidates of Portuguese descent to study in any of the 29 undergraduate programs. For further information visit
www.usa.ubi.pt
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First Portuguese American Councilwoman in Westchester County, NY
On Monday, January 2, 2018,
Janic
e Duarte became
the first
Portuguese-American councilwoman
in New York's Westchester County.
Born and bred in Mt. Vernon, she is a first generation American of Portuguese descent. Janice is the first in her family to go to college and graduated from Columbia University.
Janice's roots in Mt. Vernon are strong and run deep. 50 years ago, when Janice's grandparents made the decision to leave Portugal in search of a better life, on her father's side, they went to Venezuela, where her dad grew up, and on her mother's side they came to Mt. Vernon, where her mom grew up and graduated from Mount Vernon High School.
It was here in Mt. Vernon, that Janice's parents met for the first time. When they married, they decided to start and raise their family in Mt. Vernon. Janice's parents, brother, and grandmother still live in Mt. Vernon. To learn more about Janice visit http://jduarte4council.com/
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Manny Grova Jr. elected City Council President for the fourth time
In his seventh consecutive term as Councilman, Manny Grova Jr., a lawyer by profession, is the only
Luso-American in the position of councilman in Elizabeth
and was elected City Council President for the fourth time. Manny worked as an attorney with the Union County Prosecutor's office for four years, and is currently a Councilman at Large in the City of Elizabeth. He was originally elected to the City Council in 1994, and began his sixth term in January 2013. He is the resident attorney for Mandelbaum Salsburg in the Union County office located in Elizabeth, and since January 2002, has been the Public Defender of the Borough of Roselle's Municipal Court. He is also the Planning Board attorney for the County of Union.
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PORTUGUESE FROM SOHO
Arte Institute
is pleased to present the screening of the movie
"Portuguese from SoHo"
at Anthology Film Archives on January 26 at 7.30pm.
Synopsis
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Middlebury Language Schools Fellowship for Portuguese Teacher
The Portuguese School at Middlebury Language Schools announces Portuguese Teachers Fellowships. Applicants who want to perfect their Portuguese must be currently employed as a language teacher in grades K-12 or graduate teaching assistant. The applicant must also want either to engage in further study of Portuguese, or to undertake the teaching of Portuguese as an additional foreign language. Scholarship covers room, board, and tuition. Deadline: February 1, 2018. Information: <
http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/portuguese/portuguese-teachers-fellowship>, and <
http://www.middlebury.edu/ls/finaid>.
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Luso-American Gregory DeMelo elected
Gregory C. DeMelo, was elected to the City of Taunton School Committee during the recent Municipal Election of November 7, 2017.
Born in New Bedford, MA and the son of Maria Lourdes Cabral DeMelo (born in Fall River, MA) and Eduardo Inacio DeMelo (born in Algarvia, Nordeste, Sao Miguel, Acores-deceased) he is very proud of his Portuguese heritage and hopes to make a difference in the future of the students of the Taunton Public Schools.
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Inauguration of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge scheduled for May or June
After successive delays and postponements, a new date for the start of the Delta crossing. Citing "knowledgeable sources," China Daily predicts that the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge will open between May and June. In Macao, the last phase of construction of the MSAR border post management area was completed in mid-December, one year after the start of the works. The bridge will have 55 kilometers, or 20 times the length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (United States). Construction began in 2009 and once ready will be the first infrastructure carried out and managed by the three parties. Regarding the date of opening of the new infrastructure, Raimundo do Rosário added that it was still to be defined, and it was the responsibility of the tripartite cabinet to provide this information.
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Help strengthen PALCUS as we continue working for the community!
Please consider including PALCUS in your giving plans in 2018.
Does your employer have a matching funds program? Check with your Human Resources office to double your contribution.
PALCUS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and will be acknowledged.
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There are more ways than ever to donate to PALCUS!
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Paid advertisement. Does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by PALCUS.
Getting Your Portuguese Citizenship Service with 25% Discount
Portugal ReConnect is offering PALCUS members* a 25% discount on their service to obtain your Portuguese citizenship. If you didn't have a chance to watch PALCUS' webinar, "Getting Your Portuguese Citizenship: Benefits and Advantages" live, you can still watch it by following
this link. In the webinar, Portugal ReConnect's attorneys guide you through the criteria to help you find out whether you're eligible for the citizenship program.
*PALCUS Member in good standing, who has paid his/her 2016 or 2017 dues
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Did you enjoy this newsletter? Do you know about all the programs PALCUS offers our community? Please visit our website and become a member today!
We can't do what we do without your support!
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Jobs for Portuguese Speakers
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PALCUS Mission
In order to create a singular voice to advocate for the Portuguese-American and Luso-American communities at large, the Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States Inc. (PALCUS) was founded in 1991 as a 501(c)3 non-partisan, non-profit, organization headquartered in Washington D.C.
The PALCUS mission is to address domestic and international concerns of the Portuguese-American Community.
The Council conducts an expanding program of educational and public affairs activities on issues of interest to the Portuguese-American community and of salience to the Luso-American Relationship.
PALCUS is committed to serving the community through increasingly active government relations efforts, the promotion of a greater awareness of ethnic accomplishments and encouraging stronger ties between Portugal and the United States. In this role PALCUS advances the community professionally, politically and culturally while working to ensure that issues directly affecting our community are addressed through our network of government and community leaders.
PALCUS is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. Donations are tax deductible to extent allowed by law.
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