April is a busy month for local youth-focused nonprofit Hyde Square Task Force, which in addition to the arts has also led community organizing work over the years: from supporting neighborhood small businesses against big-box prospectors like Kmart, to defending bilingual education as part of the Coalition to Educate Mobilize & Vote, to youth participatory research on MBTA police harassment/racial profiling, to the recent campaign for Jackson Sq. Recreation Center funding from TD Garden. Their annual dance-a-thon fundraiser, Bailemos, is this weekend at their Youth Community Development Center at 30 Sunnyside St.
When this Jamaica Plain nonprofit needs to promote their wide array of arts and cultural events in Jamaica Plain’s Latin Quarter, they turn to Red Sun Press for banners, posters, flyers, postcards, and more. Longtime neighbors will remember HSTF spearheading the “JP World’s Fair” in the 1990s-2000s, and current residents enjoy HSTF-sponsored programming such as outdoor musical performances at Blessed Sacrament and plays at Mozart Park. The Latin Quarter Cultural District in Hyde/Jackson Square, which recognizes the historic contributions and current importance of Boston’s Afro-Latin community, originated from a campaign led by HSTF youth in response to anti-Latino racism in the 2016 election.
“QuéSéYoCuánto”, a community theatre performance April 25-27 by HSTF youth is featured as an official event of ArtWeek 2019. ArtWeek is an innovative annual festival that includes hundreds of unique and creative experiences that are hands-on, interactive or offer behind-the-scenes access to artists or the creative process.
In their own words:
When HSTF was founded in the late 1980s, a coalition of neighbors and community leaders felt a sense of urgency to address the violence and economic and social challenges facing the Hyde/Jackson Square neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Today the neighborhood is known as Boston’s Latin Quarter, and while in some ways our community has transformed, many challenges persist. Our work is guided by our mission: to amplify the power, creativity, and voices of youth, connecting them to Afro-Latin culture and heritage so they can create a diverse, vibrant Latin Quarter and build a just, equitable Boston. HSTF now engages over 800 youth ages 6–25 in college and career preparation, Afro-Latin arts and cultural enrichment, and community-building initiatives. In doing so, we ensure that youth have the arts and educational opportunities they need and deserve in order to be successful, and that their voices and cultures are valued and celebrated in Boston’s Latin Quarter and beyond.
