Schools
Colores Gallery Night To Spotlight Art for Academia
Hispanic Business Foundation fundraiser supports a program keeping youth on course for college.
A Hispanic Business Foundation of Maryland gala on Friday aims to highlight Latino artists while promoting academia.
The foundation hosts its from 7 to 10 p.m. at the . The gala will spotlight 10 local Latino artists and five local Latino musicians while raising funds to help at-risk youth.
The fundraiser backs a unique program that aims at keeping students with academic promise from dropping out of school in order to help with family finances.
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Jeffry Arevalo, a Kensington resident who is originally from El Salvador, was just 15 when he was faced with leaving school to help pay his family’s bills, a dilemma many young Latinos face. The Hispanic Business Foundation’s Partnership Youth Initiative (PYI), a program linking the business community with disadvantaged high school youth, helped to keep Arevalo and others like him in school and on a career path.
PYI is a youth mentoring and internship program that gives adults the chance to mentor high school students, who in turn are exposed to new careers and job skills. The key is the $1,500 stipend the teens get for successfully participating in the 12-week program.
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“If I wouldn’t have gone into this program I wouldn’t be going to college right now,” said Arevalo, who is now 18. He was hired by AQUAS Inc., an information technology firm in Bethesda, after his internship there and attends Montgomery College-Rockville.
“I was thinking of dropping out and getting a job and this helped me to keep in school and work," he said.
The Hispanic Business Foundation launched the PYI program in 2008 with grant funding from the Montgomery County Council and the county executive and with private donations and fundraisers. It is a partnership with the Montgomery County Department of Recreation and dozens of businesses.
Gallery Night is an attempt to reach out to the community, said Rosalinda Delgado, the foundation's executive director.
“We want the community to know the artists that live within our neighborhoods,” she said.
The artists’ styles range from traditional to contemporary. Each artist is donating one piece for the gala's silent auction. Twenty percent of the profit from artwork sold during the event goes to fund the PYI program, along with auction and entry profits.
Musicians will play Spanish and Latin American selections, including traditional and original compositions.
Last year, 100 people attended the event. Delgado said that she expects attendance to increase this year, so that even more youth can participate in the PYI program.
Now in its third year, PYI has helped 45 students.
“These students were mentored by someone in the workforce who encouraged them to stay in school and pursue their dreams,” Delgado said.
The Hispanic Business Foundation is also looking for more mentors and businesses that can offer internships to students.
Arevalo said he feels lucky to have had the opportunity to participate in the program.
“I feel debtful to them. The way they helped me, I really appreciate it. And they could do the same for other people. I was lucky,” he said.
For more information about Colores Gallery Night or the Hispanic Business Foundation go to hbfmd.org. Tickets are available through Thursday at www.ticketlatino.com.