WORCESTER – The word that kept coming in for Juan A. Gomez Saturday afternoon after town hall was thankful.
“Thank you to the city for its support. Thank you for this opportunity to serve,” said Gomez, who will step down from his post as head of CENTRO on Aug. 31, as a hearty crowd gathered at the nonprofit’s 32nd annual Festival of the Americas Latin.
Gomez has been the president and chief executive officer of CENTRO — formerly Centro Las Americas — since 2007, roughly half the duration of the festival. The former city councilman — the first Latino elected to city office — said he is grateful for the support of city officials during his time here and thankful for the success that has come to CENTRO.
Founded in 1977 to serve the city’s Latino population, CENTRO has expanded to become a multicultural service agency with programs ranging from food pantries to behavioral health services. It has an annual budget of $12.5 million, is rated three out of four stars on Charity Navigator and has steadily grown assets in recent years, according to ProPublica.
As he stood on stage with Mayor Joseph M. Petty Saturday afternoon to officially open the festival — an avalanche of colorful Latin American flags and national anthems followed — Gomez, 60, filled the crowd in Spanish before turning the microphone over to Petty.
“I am proud to be the leader of a welcoming city,” the mayor said to cheers. He hailed Latin American culture as enriching Worcester, read a Latin American Festival Day proclamation and thanked Gomez for his leadership.
Strong start
Saturday’s free festival from 11am to 9pm was expected to draw around 10,000 attendees. Organizers on Saturday afternoon said the event got off to a strong start.
“We’re already hearing from vendors who need to come back for more,” Valeria Ramos Rodriguez, CENTRO’s marketing coordinator, said around 2 p.m.
The common town was packed with dozens of booths as the sun shone through most of the afternoon, from community colleges and health organizations to vendors selling a myriad of Latin American wares.
“The food is amazing,” said Schalinne Aquino of Worcester as her daughters, Jeilannie Reyes, 7, and Meilanie Reyes, 9, played with other children.
Both Reyes’ daughters loved Benjie the Bay State Savings Bank Beagle, a much larger-than-life beagle mascot who gave high-fives and hugs.
“He!” Meilane Reyes, her face painted in an impressive rainbow, said when asked about her favorite part of the day, pointing to Benjie.
Young and old alike swayed and danced to salsa and other Latin American music playing loudly from a stage where Viti Ruiz, a younger brother of the late Frankie Ruiz, was scheduled to headline the on Saturday evening.
The music gave a particularly festive atmosphere to the festival, which saw a steady flow of visitors throughout the afternoon.
Food vendors ranged from Oscar’s Arepas – Rincon Latino to the ubiquitous Dunkin’ stand directly to its right.
The president of Venezuela protested
Carlina Velasquez and Maria Suarez, both of Venezuelan descent, drew attention to the political turmoil plaguing the country by holding signs protesting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s widely disputed claims of victory.
Velasquez, president of the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, said she came to Worcester from Dedham to protest, something she noted many in her home country, which she left in 1996, are being arrested for doing.
Asked for her thoughts on the state of American politics, Velasquez said the US should be concerned about “open borders.” She said that while many people fleeing Venezuela are good people, she said she also believes Maduro is deliberately sending dangerous people to America to harm the country.
US presidential politics were represented at Saturday’s event, as volunteers from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent campaign. spoke and offered voter registration.
Volunteer Yoanna Valentin, who was born in Peru and now lives in Burlington, said she believes Kennedy is the best option for the country. A sign at the event noted that Kennedy was jailed for 30 days in 2001 after protesting US Navy bombing exercises on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.
“He’s the only candidate who will stand up to big corporations,” said volunteer Joseph McNeil of Auburn.
No other presidential campaign had a presence at Saturday’s event. Valentin said it was important to have Kennedy represented because his candidacy — in part, she claimed, as a result of being ignored by the media — is not as popular.
“Eighty percent of the people I’ve talked to (so far) don’t know Bobby is running,” she said.
Gomez promotes collaboration
Before taking the stage to open the ceremony Saturday afternoon — and after taking a few minutes to enjoy some pork and plantains from Oscar’s — Gomez reflected for a few minutes on his time with CENTRO.
Asked what he learned most from his time at the helm, he emphasized the importance of true collaboration between organizations and the city — something he said he didn’t fully understand when he was on the city council.
Gomez said the public is best served when organizations do their best to work together without worrying about credit as much as making sure the job gets done.
Asked what advice he had for smaller organizations — which often compete for a limited amount of funding — Gomez said leaders should try to stay true to the populations they serve and work to measure and capture the impact that have in the community.
“The rest will take care of itself,” he said.
Asked if he might seek to run for office again, Gomez smiled and said God made it clear during his last run for council in 2015 that it wasn’t meant to be his path.
In addition to serving CENTRO part-time as the head of its affordable housing initiative, Gomez said he plans to use most of his newfound time with his family.
Tina Velezquez, the organization’s chief operating officer and soon-to-be interim president/CEO, thanked Gomez for his years of leadership.
She said CENTRO’s expansion under Gomez, especially its foray into providing health services, will mark its legacy.
“It’s been so important to our community,” she said, vowing to continue working to expand the organization’s reach into communities outside of Worcester.
