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The Hispanic community of New Bedford gathers in the 48 Hispanic churches of the City; sports fields such as Ashley Park on Rivet St, Mt. Pleasant St baseball field, park at Presidential Heights, and baseball fields of Buttonwood Park and the soccer fields of Riverside Park; and bars. House parties also occupy social time concentrated in public housing around the City. This community also has a Mexican restaurant, a Dominican food store, Price Rite and Seabra where a lot of Hispanics shop. There are a lot of beaches in the area where Hispanic people go. In the north of New Bedford we go to the Market Basket, Elizabeth Restaurant, La Raza, etc. Our Lady of Guadalupe and San Antonio churches.
The primary language is Spanish and also some Kiche of the Guatemalan indigenous community. Every September there is a celebration for Salvadoran Independence Day in Riverside Park. New Bedford has experienced recent immigration from Guatamala and Honduras and El Salvador and Dominican Republic. Puerto Ricans also came in larger numbers after the hurricane. There is a mixture of status, with undocumented (Central Americans) and citizens (Puerto Ricans).
The Hispanic community works in factories and fish houses of the New Bedford port. Hispanic women tend to work as CNAs, housekeepers, and in supermarkets. Substandard housing is a concern among the Hispanic community, with poor conditions of rodents and code violations. Overcrowding is common in housing units. There are constant complaints about working conditions and the environment of the fish houses.
Lack of access to needed services due to language barriers is a big problem. Lack of interpreters in all sectors (ex. waiting for over an hour for an interpreter in medical settings; being turned away from municipal services because of lack of interpreters; being told they cannot access job training programs or access to Dept of Children and Family Services due to lack of interpreters or Spanish speaking social workers. A general lack of access to health insurance due to immigration status. Mental health and substance abuse are also major concerns of this community, related to substandard living conditions and the acculturation stress (stress of living as a Hispanic in the US).
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