By: Crystal J. Rodriguez, JD., LL.M.

On September 3rd, 2015 at 12noon, the Puerto Rican Flag was be raised in Niagara Square to celebrate not only the Puerto Rican & Hispanic Day Parade which will take place on the 12th but also the beginning of the upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month which begins on September 15th and runs through October 15th.

Mayor Byron Brown hosted a reception immediately after for the community and Parade.

Recently, the Mayor announced the City of Buffalo Opportunity Pledge where he is asking for demonstrated support from individuals, organizations and businesses by way of signing the pledge. The pledge recognizes that one of City’s greatest assets is its diversity and encourages everyone to embrace an inclusive mindset that allows everyone to take advantage of the tremendous economic growth-taking place in the City. If there is not demonstrated support for this concept, no one will believe that’s what we are about and nor will they want to sign on.

I am asking that all of us come together as a community and show that we support this concept by attending the reception after the flag raising where collectively, the Hispanic Community will sign on to the pledge with the Mayor and present signatures that we have collected from our organizations. I realize some individuals and organizations have already signed on and I thank you! Some of you may need to get board approval, but please reach out to board members, staff and supporters asking them to sign the pledge, if they haven’t done so already.

The Organizations I have represented here in this email are:

Panorama Hispano News

Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY

Hispanics United of Buffalo

WNY Hispanic Veteran’s Association

Belle Center

Pucho Olivencia Center

Amor y Heritage

Puerto Rican & Hispanic Day Parade of WNY

Hispanic Women’s League

During this year’s reception, leadership from Goya foods will be on hand to celebrate its sponsorship of the Parade and make remarks recognizing the Mayor’s efforts in this area and congratulating the community for making a strong showing of support…..let’s make sure we do just that! Please call me if you have any questions and I am hoping to see all of you there! If you can think of anyone else that should be included, please feel free to invite them. I will need everyone to RSVP so that I can have a complete list of participants for signing event. PRESS WILL BE INVITED.

Attached to this email you will find the pledge and signature sheets you can use to collect signatures within your organizations. The pledge can also be found by visiting www.city-buffalo.com/BuffaloOpportunityPledge<http://www.city-buffalo.com/BuffaloOpportunityPledge>