A screenshot from La Liga’s website, laligaupstateny.org.
For many Westside Latino residents of Syracuse, walking into the office of La Liga is the beginning of a new life.
“Being unemployed for a really long time makes people suffer low self-esteem and stop trying. We help them be confident, improve skills, make the connections and find the job eventually,” said Claudia Dotterer, career supervisor at La Liga.
La Liga, also known as the Spanish Action League of Onondaga County, is a non-profit organization. It provides social and educational programs, community services and support to Latino community, who live in the Westside neighborhood. It and other local organizations work with Hispanic residents to overcome what many say are barriers to employment.
In Syracuse, about 12,036 residents – or 8.3 percent of the population – are of Hispanic origin, according to 2010 U.S. Census. Nationally, the unemployment rate among Latinos was 9.7 percent in January, compared with 7.9 percent unemployment for the general population, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
La Liga gets community program fund, city grants and county grants from the United Way. For example, the Nuestro Futuro – Our Future – program is an educational and career support program at La Liga. It received $33,725 from the United Way from 2011 to 2014.
Most Latinos can find jobs in only cleaning services, construction industry or other jobs which don’t require high education and English language skills, said Dotterer, the La Liga career supervisor. In order to help them, the agency runs two career programs to break the barrier. “Latinos are hard workers and they will take any job that they get, even though still a lot of them have been out of work for ages,” said Dotterer.
Krizia Cabrera, 29, of Puerto Rico, is among the people who are seeking help from La Liga. Two years ago, with a hope for better life and job, she came to the mainland United States. She had two years of accounting working experience at a hospital back in Puerto Rico and educational background in medicine. Still, she said, she still can’t find a job here and still lives on the support from her family.
“Language is the key,” said Cabrera. “Sometimes, I still struggle so much with English, and you got to learn the language and then find a job.”
Besides La Liga, people with Hispanic origins can get help for their careers from other local organizations, like the Latino Professional Network of Syracuse. Taino Palermo and his partner Edward Cuello established the network to connect Latino community and other minority groups with professions.
“When they have problems,” said Cuello, “they don’t know where to get help.”
(Ruth Jingnan Li is a graduate magazine, newspaper and online journalism major.)
-30-
