Rossanna Gabriel emigrated from the Dominican Republic and settled in Hazleton years ago.
Her relatives still live in New York and New Jersey, but she stayed in Hazleton, mainly because the rent was cheaper and the homes larger.
“And I considered at that time that the place was safe for my son and that maybe I had the opportunity to find a job,” she said Thursday at a roundtable on the immigrant workforce. “That's why I decided and that is an example for our people.”
Now, as executive director of the Hazleton Integration Project, she helps others like her.
She and other local Dominican leaders spoke at the roundtable at Wilkes University hosted by state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, and Rep. Danilo Burgos, D-Philadelphia, the chairman of the state House Latino Caucus. Speakers cited statistics that show two-thirds of the Hazleton Area School District's students are Latinos and almost half of the Wilkes-Barre Area School District's. The new arrivals need guidance, Gabriel said.
“When you arrive to a new country, you not only bring your dream, but you also only see the opportunity to grow your family and have a better future, and you need us,” Gabriel said.
The project aims to serve everyone and organizes community dinners attended by a mix of Anglos and Latinos, but most people who use its services are Latinos, Gabriel said.
The reason is simple.
“We need to find a place that speaks our language. That is the first step because we are afraid to enter to a place where nobody can understand you or that you think ‘Oh, I don't speak very good English. Maybe I make a mistake,’” Gabriel said.
She told the legislators the organization needs lawyers who can help immigrants apply for green cards that allow them to work in the U.S. or attend college. She also said she knows of Dominican-trained doctors and other professionals working in warehouses around Hazleton because they can’t get professional certifications here.
“You can grow your family working in Amazon or American Eagle (Outfitters), or warehouses that are around the area,” she said. “But if you are a doctor, a medical doctor in the Dominican Republic, you need an opportunity. You have a lot of different professionals working in those warehouses because they don't have the opportunity.”
Pashinski, who likened the new immigrants to his immigrant grandparents, promised to find attorneys to help. He also promised to build more connections with the Latino community.
“We have to uplift the image of immigrants. And this is something where we can show that simply by the numbers … that you are contributing, you are working, you're paying taxes, and you're contributing to the quality of life,” he said.
