The Puerto Rican Studies Association was founded to help promote scholarship in the field and offer a place for scholars to come together. The Association meets every other year (in even-numbered years) in a different location. We maintain a listserve for members for the dissemination of news of interest.

There currently are several hundred active members of the PRSA. The last meeting was held at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, and drew over 200 attendees for presentations on topics dealing with Puerto Rico and with Puerto Ricans in other places. The next meeting will be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico; information can be found using the "2008 Meeting" link at left.

We encourage students, scholars, activists, and others with interests in the island and its people to join and participate in the PRSA.

Visit the Puerto Rican Studies Association Website for more Information

Club Puerto Rico of Maryland, Inc. was created 31 years ago with the idea of serving the Puerto Rican community in Maryland as a cultural center. Over the last 30 years we have done much more than just that. Not only we serving people from Puerto Rico but we are also helping Latinos in general to integrate into local communities and to invest their time and efforts to help others as well.

Throughout the year, members of the club get together to celebrate traditional cultural events that were part of our daily lives when we lived in Puerto Rico. In addition we celebrate other events that are part of the American Culture as well. However, we are not limited to just parties and celebrations. We also help other organizations to fulfill their goals and challenges in order to help Latinos in general.

Visit the Club Puerto Rico of Maryland Website for more information

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City was Sunday June 10, 2007, along 5th Avenue between 44th St and 86th St,

PHOTO GALLERY of 2007 Parade

PHOTO GALLERY of 2006 Parade

As East Harlem Develops, Its Accent Starts to Change
By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and TANZINA VEGA
Published: January 21, 2007

Inside a wooden shack set in a garden on East 117th Street, a group of Puerto Rican men, many of them in their 70s and 80s, are playing a spirited game of dominoes on a rainy winter afternoon. A painting of a woman wearing a burgundy shawl over a flamenco-style dress hangs on a wall, and in the garden, tomatoes, peppers, corn and culantro, an herb used in Caribbean cooking, grow in the summer.

But outside their little retreat, a thick dust, the pounding of hammers and the shouts of construction workers inundate the block, signaling the transformation of East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or El Barrio (the neighborhood). Many see it changing from the Puerto Rican enclave it has been for decades to a more heterogeneous neighborhood with a significant middle-class presence, luxury condominiums and a Home Depot.

Read More - Story Courtesy NY TImes

The Changing Face of East Harlem

For decades East Harlem has been the center of New York's Puerto Rican community. Over the years many Mexican and Dominican immigrants have also made East Harlem their home. Now, as the squeeze of affordable housing gets tighter and tighter in Manhattan, more middle-class professionals are moving to the neighborhood. In a tale almost as old as New York itself, the changes have long-time residents worried about the loss of community.

The Times describes some of the changes happening in East Harlem today. Census Bureau data shows that East Harlem has had a decline in its Puerto Rican population since 1990. As luxury housing and wealthier people move into the neighborhoods many Puerto Ricans have moved upstate or to cities in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Rafael Merino, a member of Community Board 11 says "We're in crisis mode right now, and as far as retaining the Puerto Rican and Latino identity in the neighborhood, we're in red alert."

It wasn't too long ago that some taxi drivers dropped passengers off at 96th street, fearing to drive into what was perceived to be a crime-ridden area. Today a string of luxury apartment buildings have been popping up above 96th. A few of the buildings offer their residents free shuttle van service to subway stations during the morning and evening commutes. We don't know if the van is offered as a perk or for resident's safety, but as someone who often walks in the neighborhood Gothamist knows it's not that dangerous.

One proposed response to neighborhood concerns is to market Spanish Harlem to visitors. By turning 106th St. east of Central Park into a cultural corridor, Puerto Rican heritage could be showcased through murals, cultural centers, art galleries and restaurants.

Story Courtesy the Gothamist

The Majorette Squad
Captain: Damaris Perez
The Paterson New Jersey United Puerto Rican Day Parade
August, 28, 2005

Photos Here

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