Laura Figueroa completed the Hispanic Business Education and Training Program, funded by TD Charitable Foundation in partnership with 麻豆原创 Global, which the PRRH is housed under. This initiative equips current or aspiring small business owners of Hispanic origin with essential information for operating a successful business through a free, 10-week program.

Figueroa is the owner of Cake Pastries and More, which operates out of her home. She completed the program in early 2022 and says it was an intense review of everything she needed to make her business thrive.

Figueroa is one of many success stories from the hub鈥檚 efforts so far. She is now a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce member and recently applied to her first commercial space.

“One of the biggest takeaways I had was that networking is the key to success, and that can be hard, especially for Spanish language natives,” Figueroa says. “Those leading the program provide you these connections and customers because they want to see you succeed.”

Director Fernando Rivera founded the hub in 2018 after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. The natural disaster resulted in a surge of Puerto Ricans in Central Florida, positioning the hub at the new epicenter of the Puerto Rican diaspora, with more than 1 million Puerto Ricans calling Florida home 鈥� according to the Center for Puerto Rican Studies 2019 report.

Rivera says one of the hub鈥檚 main objectives is conducting academic research to understand critical issues related to Puerto Ricans and communicate the results to appropriate scholars, communities, and government officials. In January 2023, they were awarded $500,000 in funding as a part of the FY2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act to expand the hub’s research capabilities.

An event celebrating the program鈥檚 fifth anniversary will take place from 6-8 p.m. at the 麻豆原创 Puerto Rico Research Hub. Registration is required, and .

“One of our main goals is providing opportunities for our students to engage in research, and this funding allows us to accomplish that,” Rivera says. “We were able to hire graduate and undergraduate students from 麻豆原创 to participate in this project and impact the policy decisions that affect our community.”

This funding will allow the hub to conduct polls on crucial social and education issues relating to the Puerto Rican community in Central Florida. The project is in the beginning stages of implementation and is scheduled to conclude in 2025.

This year the business training program is being paired with a free community English program funded by Truist Foundation, aiming to provide more resources that fuel participants’ success.

“You finish this business training in Spanish since that is what you’re comfortable with, but your next step is English,” says Zoe Colon, senior advisor to the hub and director of 麻豆原创 Global Community Initiatives. “We’re serving a certain niche, and we want to continue to encourage them to take the next step towards their career development, which is English proficiency.”

Figueroa says he believes that these initiatives led by organizations like 麻豆原创 are the catalyst for the Hispanic community’s success in Central Florida.

“It’s important to give back to the community on every level 鈥� to provide these kinds of resources that allow those of us who are in the U.S. alone [and] want to succeed but feel lost,” Figueroa says. “It’s a beautiful mission; together, we are stronger. As fellow Hispanics, we are here to help each other succeed.”

Looking ahead, the hub aims to strengthen 麻豆原创’s scholarly capacity through partnerships. This includes co-publishing the online journal Revista Encuentros with the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras, focusing on themes like disasters, urban planning, agriculture, and sociopolitical issues for Puerto Ricans on the island and in the diaspora. They’ll also increase polls, reports, public events, and sharing findings with officials in Puerto Rican population centers.

“We’re at the crossroads of sustaining the program beyond my expertise and preparing the next generation to take this on,” Rivera says. “Instead of celebrating five years, we aim to celebrate 100 years.”

For me, baseball is more than just a game, it is a continuous source of life lessons and reflection. Plus, I鈥檝e learned a lot about this great country in my travels.

For instance, baseball has taught me that part of life is about failure and how to react to that failure. Baseball is a game in which the batter can miss the ball 7 out of 10 times and still be an all-star. It鈥檚 a matter of putting the last turn at bat behind and pushing forward to the next turn.

Baseball allows for redemption without time constraints. A team can be losing in the last inning of a game with only one strike to go, and make a comeback that is not hampered by a game clock but fueled by determination and perseverance.

But most importantly, baseball is about slowing down, enjoying a beverage and delighting in the sounds of the crack of the bat and pop of the catcher鈥檚 mitt.

For all these reasons, I want to see, feel, and experience baseball 鈥� and that is why my goal is to visit every baseball stadium and region of the country.

My journey started when I attended my first game in Kansas City in the summer of 1996. The Royals were playing the Baltimore Orioles and I had a chance to see future hall of famer Cal Ripken Jr. Sitting in the upper deck seats at Kauffman Stadium started my more than 20-year journey.

A combination of business, personal travel, and relocation has allowed to visit stadiums all over the United States and Canada. After Kansas City, I traveled to St. Louis to catch another game. In the old stadium you might catch a glimpse of the Gateway Arch. Thankfully in the new stadium, home plate was repositioned and now there is a glorious view of the monument from every corner of the stadium. At that time I was in graduate school in Nebraska, so my stadium visits concentrated mostly in the Midwest.

Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, is one of my favorite stadiums. Great pre- and post-game atmosphere and a great baseball tradition in one of the oldest MLB stadiums.

After graduate school, I moved to the Northeast and that allowed me to visit several stadiums in that region. A longtime Mets fan, I visited old Shea Stadium frequently. The most memorable feature of this stadium was the loud noises of incoming airplanes landing at LaGuardia Airport. In the upper deck seats you felt that the airplane was going to land on top of you.

The Mets鈥� new stadium is a fantastic venue with every food option you can imagine, from fresh sushi to hometown BBQ. The old Yankees stadium had the aura of baseball greatness and any baseball fan could feel the presence of all those great Yankees championship teams. I鈥檓 looking forward to visiting the new stadium in the near future.

Each stadium in the region has its own unique charm: Baltimore is a great venue close to the Inner Harbor; the Pittsburgh stadium, the house that Roberto Clemente built, overlooks the city and is a blast to walk to via the bright yellow bridge from downtown; and Boston features the Green Monster outfield fence.

When I moved to Florida to join the faculty at 麻豆原创 I was able to attend games in the Southeast. The Atlanta Braves鈥� downtown Olympic stadium was one of the hottest games I ever attended. I look forward to checking out the new Braves’ facilities in Marietta, GA.

In Florida, the Marlins have upgraded their stadium to a baseball-dedicated facility with a retractable roof and a comfortable 70-degree temperature. Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays, features a water tank with actual manta rays that you can touch.

Visits to just six of the 30 MLB stadiums 鈥� Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Minnesota and Arlington, Texas 鈥� will end my quest.

And once I finish, I will begin my next quest 鈥� to visit all Spring Training facilities in Florida and Arizona!

Plenty more opportunities to do the seventh-inning stretch, sing 鈥淭ake Me Out the Ballgame鈥� and continue to reflect on the lessons baseball provides me and how to apply them to my everyday life.

Play Ball!

Fernando I. Rivera is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Sociology. He can be reached at Fernando.Rivera@ucf.edu.

This particular day I was working with the Coastal Connection team from the Department of Sociology studying the human dimensions of restoration in the Indian River Lagoon.

After a short lunch break, I was browsing through my Twitter feed and a headline captured my attention: “Puerto Rican Air National Guard plane crashes shortly after takeoff in Savannah, Georgia. All deceased.”

I had to pause for a second because I knew my dear friend, Jos茅 Rafael Rom谩n Rosado, was usually the pilot of the C-130 Hercules for the “PRANG,” the Puerto Rico Air National Guard.

I quickly texted Jos茅, but there was no response. I went to our high school online group chat and the postings started coming up about the accident. Everyone was sending messages to Jos茅 and trying to get any information available.

Before long the news hit: Rom谩n Rosado, 43, with 18 years of service, had passed away along with eight other members of the PRANG. The crew was flying the aging plane to Arizona for its retirement.

My heart sank.

I tried to keep my composure while continuing to work that day, but I couldn’t. The news of Jos茅 passing away hit me hard.

Jos茅, mayor of Manati, Puerto Rico, was always full of life and was such a kind, attentive and loyal friend. I started to recall all the things we shared together since our childhood days and I couldn’t help but cry and ask why? Why lose a friend, a brother so early in life?

Dealing with loss is never easy and confronting your mortality is even worse. As I get older I realize that death is an integral part of life, but dealing with loss never gets easier.

Since the sudden passing of my mother almost four years ago, I had not experienced such sorrow.

I checked the last communication I had with Jos茅 during a recent visit to Puerto Rico. We had set up plans to get together but it didn’t work out. My last message to him: “Will do it next time.”

Jose’s death reminded me that in life tomorrow is not guaranteed. It may sound clich茅 but you do not have to wait another day to tell important people in your life that you love them and that you care for them.

Do not neglect your time on earth as you never know when it is going to end.

While the death of my friend has forced me to deal with my mortality it has also given me the opportunity to reflect on how lucky I was to have a friend like him. There were so many firsts that I did with him: first sleepover as kids, first salsa concert, first university visit, first of many other things. There was never a dull moment with Jos茅 and every interaction I had with him simply made life a little better. I am sure all of those who knew him shared this with him as well.

As things settle back in place and the journey of life continues, I am making sure to live my life to the fullest and enjoy the many gifts life has to offer. I will forever miss my friend and I am certain we will see each other in the next life.

May you rest in peace, Jos茅 Rafael Rom谩n Rosado and the rest of the crew on board.

Fernando I. Rivera is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Sociology. He can be reached at Fernando.Rivera@ucf.edu.

Much can be said about the resilient, proud and innovative spirit of the Puerto Rican people. The warmth and attentive reception we received everywhere we went was indicative of that.

After the storm, my research interest in disasters and Puerto Ricans in Florida was augmented. Then-Provost Dale Whittaker asked me to lead the efforts on how 麻豆原创 was going to address the situation, and different offices on campus, staff, faculty and students came together to work on the issue.

This amazing group of people was responsible for answering calls and providing information about admission criteria for students granted in-state tuition to attend 麻豆原创. 麻豆原创鈥檚 newly established Puerto Rican Student Association was essential in extending in-state tuition for students displaced by the storm.

My research interests were recognized by various news outlets and I was interviewed by local WMFE-FM, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and Telemundo and Univision national broadcasts, and inquiries for information came from reporters from CNN and Forbes magazine. Willingly or not, I had become the source of information for the situation happening on the island and its impact on the Central Florida community.

At the personal level I was also dealing with the aftermath of the storm. I was not able to communicate with my father in Puerto Rico for three weeks and my in-laws moved to my house in Orlando and stayed with us for almost four months.

Maria had influenced my life at all levels, but I still had not seen the devastation firsthand, and four months after the storm I decided it was time to visit and evaluate the situation for myself.

In the winding-down days of the 2017 fall semester, I met with my colleagues in the Department of Sociology 鈥� Professor Tim Hawthorne and post-doctoral scholar Hannah Torres 鈥� and we decided to visit Puerto Rico. Christine Munisteri also joined us as our drone pilot to survey the damage caused by Maria. We wanted to meet with faculty colleagues at the University of Puerto Rico and also with people in the community. After our 麻豆原创 meeting, we contacted several groups and individuals, and the plan for our visit was set.

As we were landing at the airport in San Juan, my heart was pounding with anticipation. Was I ready to see the aftermath? Was I going to experience a completely different Puerto Rico?

At touchdown, the passengers starting clapping and making noise 鈥� this is a sort of an unwritten tradition of Puerto Rican passengers when they land on the island. As I stepped off the airplane, the airport operations were smooth, rental-car pickup was a breeze, and everything looked normal. We rented an apartment in Old San Juan because FEMA workers and other subcontractors had booked most of the hotel rooms.

As we drove from the airport to Old San Juan there were noticeable effects of the hurricane. Several traffic lights were not working, highways signs were facing the wrong way, and a billboard was destroyed. But overall, Old San Juan and the airport seemed to be OK.

However, as we visited other places around the island, the story was different.

The next place we visited was the island of Culebra to meet our friends Alfredo Monta帽ez and Roberto Morales.

Culebra was affected by Hurricane Irma before it struck Central Florida and the coastal erosion was compounded by Hurricane Maria. Our friends showed us how coral reefs were 聽damaged by the storm and how they wanted to collaborate to educate local children to protect this area and develop a resilient community to face the threats of future hurricanes and other climate events.

One of the striking issues in Culebra was the closure of its most famous beach, Playa Flamenco, as Maria had shifted the ocean floor and several bombs resurfaced from the island鈥檚 past as a bombing range for the U.S. armed forces. They closed the beach to make sure the bombs were not active; fortunately most of them were not.

We visited faculty and students at the Graduate School of Planning and the Center for Social Research at the University of Puerto Rico in R铆o Piedras who shared their experiences with Maria, the stoppage of classes, and the way they make sure their students continue their education and research even in the most trying conditions.

We visited Utuado in the center of the island to meet with a community group that shared their efforts in responding to the storm by organizing, communicating and activating their community. They also mentioned that some of the communities have been without electricity or potable water for 15 years or so, way before the impact of Maria.

Finally, we visited the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez and met with faculty members and students from various departments. We learned about the National Institute of Energy and Island Sustainability collaborative that was put together to address the most pressing issues of energy and sustainability on the island. We also toured the damage to the coastline in the northwest town of Rinc贸n and saw firsthand the impact of Maria to this great tourist destination.

Overall, four months after Maria, Puerto Rico was still in response mode.

To the casual observer, if looked like Maria had just hit the island as debris was still on the side of the roads, downed power and telephone lines remained, and several places were without power or working with portable generators.

Puerto Rico is still in great need, and what we saw confirms it.

Even now, another three months after our visit, many of the conditions we experienced are still present.

I ask that others not forget Puerto Rico and we do everything we can to make sure that the island thrives again.

Fernando I. Rivera is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Sociology. He can be reached at Fernando.Rivera@ucf.edu.

Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency on Monday, Sept. 4, and as I went grocery shopping the water aisles started to empty. I addressed my honors medical sociology students, told them to take the threat seriously and encouraged them to complete their disaster kits and possible evacuation plans. As the class concluded, I told them that I was hoping to see them back in class that Thursday. But that never happened.

Concerns grew as I received a text on Wednesday from 麻豆原创 Alert, a communication system that informs the university community about emergency situations. The text stated that all classes were canceled for the rest of the week. On Thursday, there was still some sense of normality; my kids went to school, I did some work at the office, and kept a watchful eye on Irma’s projected path.

Then another notice, this time from the Seminole County Public School System: Classes were canceled for that Friday. By now, resignation. Like it or not, Irma was coming.

I have visited and spoken with most emergency managers in Central Florida. I know we are in very good hands. I know that Florida is one the best emergency-management systems in the country. But I was hearing all the talk in the media about the strength, size and unprecedented nature of this storm.

I should have been level headed and I tried my best. In all honesty, I was afraid and wondered what I should do. Pack up and head north? Stay? Go to a shelter? Even with my expertise, these were decisions that were not meant to be taken slightly.

By Saturday, my family and I decided to stay. We had all the supplies we could get, window shutters were up in the house, and the forecast suggested the hurricane eye was moving east away from us. Things were looking good and spirits were lifted. Now the waiting for the storm began.

As I continued to monitor the path of Irma, bad news trickled in. The storm was moving west, expected to ride up the gulf coast of Florida, directly impacting Tampa. My heart sank as I know that the eastern side of hurricanes always pack the strongest winds and rain. Resignation, again. Did I made the right choice? Did I put my family in harm’s way?

Glued to weather reports I was hoping for a change in Irma’s trajectory. Saturday night brought even worse projections, the eye of Irma shifted more east, and the possibility of a direct strike was upon us. It was the beginning of one of the longest nights of my life.

Saturday evening, emergency alerts started to arrive: “Tornado warning, seek shelter immediately!” We all packed into the safety of the bathroom and waited for the warning to expire. No luck, as the night progressed we received six additional tornado warnings.

Time stood still that night.

The wind started to blow, rain began to pour and we were bracing for the worst of it at 2 a.m. I did my best to comfort the kids. We played games and kept an eye on the news. As reports of power outages began to trickle in, flashlights were nearby and we waited for our power to go out. Luckily for us, it never did.

Around 2:30 a.m., the eye approach our area, the winds kept blowing, gusts shook the house to its core, and in the darkness of night it was hard to tell what was going on. By 4:30 a.m., I couldn’t stay awake. For an hour or so, sheer tiredness allow me to sleep. But it was short lived. The howling of the winds woke me up and I was just hoping for it to stop. Please just stop, Irma. Move on, please!

Daylight finally arrived and I peeked through the window to get a glimpse of the damage. I could see a section of the back fence was down and several roof shingles on the ground. In all, I felt a sense of relief that the worst of the storm had passed and that we were going to be OK. Resignation turned into relief. 聽Good call on staying put. We made it!

As neighbors started to come out to assess the damage, there was a strong sense of community. Everyone asked if others were OK, how they could help, etc. By far, we dodged a bullet; things could have been a lot worst, and it was for many others around the state, Georgia, South Carolina, and those in Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis, Turks and Caicos, and the Virgin Islands.

I am grateful to all emergency personnel, media and governmental officials for their hard work to keep us informed and safe.

As I reflect on the experience, I cannot be certain that I would stay if a hurricane like Irma comes our way again.

But one thing that was reinforced for sure is that preparation is the best tool to get ready and recover from a storm.

Should I stay or should I go next time? Hopefully I won’t have to find out soon. My fingers are crossed.

Fernando I. Rivera is an associate professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Sociology. He can be reached at Fernando.Rivera@ucf.edu.