A New Leader for OLA
Minerva Perez has been named to the new position of executive director at Organizacion Latino-Americana of Long Island, or OLA.
Founded in 2002, OLA is a not-for-profit organization that promotes social, economic, cultural, and educational development for the region’s Latino communities.
Previously, Ms. Perez was director of residential and transitional services at the Retreat, the domestic violence services and education organization serving the East End. She began working for OLA as a volunteer in 2008, appearing before the Suffolk County Legislature to oppose anti-immigrant initiatives. She also helped to double the size of OLA’s film festival, which is now in its 13th year, and produced and directed the only Spanish-language production of “The Vagina Monologues” on the South Fork.
OLA’s mission, Ms. Perez said on Monday, is to “help build a stronger community: Latinos building bridges between Latinos and non-Latinos.” The group also provides English as a second language and computer literacy classes for Spanish-speaking residents, leadership workshops for adults, arts education for children, and educational forums on health, safety, and fiscal and legal interests.
“This is not a separatist or exclusionary thing,” Ms. Perez said. “It’s all about bringing groups together and sharing what’s so wonderful about all our communities, and truly changing the discourse on what it means to be Latino on the East End.”
While some UpIsland organizations offer information and services to Latinos, “the East End remains a challenging geographic location,” she said. On the South Fork, wealthy residents and recent immigrants from various countries inhabit the same communities. “The biggest challenge that remains is to unify people,” Ms. Perez said, “especially folks that have been here for a while and have their own rich experiences from wherever they’re coming from, and those that are new here. Each of these countries represents such a different cultural viewpoint, understanding, sometimes a different dialect. To call everyone Latino or Hispanic sometimes rankles, and I want to remain sensitive to that. We need to celebrate the unique qualities of each, but we need to unify.”
Representation in government and on appointed boards, she said, is a priority. “When we have the numbers that we have on the East End, it’s not correct if you don’t have equal representation. There’s a whole different perspective. Without that you don’t have as healthy a local community. What’s going on at East Hampton Town Hall, Southampton’s, Riverhead’s? What are the unheard needs of the community members?”
She pointed to East Hampton Town’s newly formed Latino advisory committee as a step in the right direction. “These are true leaders,” she said. “This is their initiative. Stuff like that — homegrown East Hampton folks — is exciting to see.”
Immigration policy and affordable housing are priorities for the South Fork’s Latino population, Ms. Perez said. “OLA will stay connected to those,” but will also “shine light in different directions, and maintain and create alliances with other organizations. The challenge is, how do we work together? We don’t have to fight over anything, we need to work together right now. There is so much to be done.”