WHERE:Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St, Fall River, MA
WHEN:March 23rd, 1-3 PM, 2019
On March 23rd, a collaborative photography exhibit, “Through Our Eyes, will open at the Narrows Center for the Arts. The over thirty contributing photographers are all adult English-language learners at SER-Jobs for Progress, Inc. who have made their home in Fall River.Over the past year, the students have been exploring the world around them through the lens of a camera and taking photographs of whatever struck them as important, interesting, or beautiful.Every week in their beginning and intermediate ESOL classes, they shared their photographs with one another and in what often became quite animated discussions, explained the meanings, cultural traditions, and artistic visions behind their depictions.They each created work-in-progress journals that included all the photographs they had taken over the course of the semester, selected a set of favorite images, and then worked hard to create accompanying captions that expressed their thoughts and feelings.This exhibit is the culmination of the students’ efforts to use photography to tell stories about themselves and their communities and to share those stories with wider audiences.
The exhibit opening is also the kick-off to the 40th Anniversary celebrations of Southeastern Massachusetts SER-Jobs for Progress, Inc.This non-profit organization has been a leader in adult education, training, and employment since 1979.Originally founded to improve the educational and employment outcomes of Portuguese immigrant families in Fall River, SER-Jobs currently serves residents of the greater Fall River area and other communities in Southeastern Massachusetts who come from diverse cultural backgrounds by offering a wide range of programs and services. The programs they offer include classes for English to Students of Other Languages, high school equivalency preparation classes for adults and out of school youth, and career exploration activities, training in computer literacy and technology, and job and career planning, counseling, and placement.
The themes of the Through Our Eyes exhibit reflect the students’ diverse interests and points of view.Some of the photographs focus primarily on connections with family and friends.Others depict traditions such as the making and sharing of food and celebration of special events.Still others depict the beauty of nature, neighborhoods throughout the city, or new ways to see details of daily life.A goal shared by all of the contributing photographers was to convey the important role the supportive educational space at SER-Jobs plays in their lives.Their captions and autobiographical accounts reveal hopes and dreams and what it has been like to leave a homeland in order to make a new life for themselves and their children in the U.S
This project was made possible by a generous grant from MassHumanities, as well as contributions from SER-Jobs for Progress, Inc., and the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.The second phase of this project, which will entail public art installations of photographs throughout Fall River, from the Through Our Eyes collection, is supported by a Creative Commonwealth Grant from the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts.All the photographs are also accessible to the public via the Fall River Portraits website (fallriverportraits.org) which was made possible by a Creative Economies Grant from the University of Massachusetts President’s Office.
The exhibit opening and kick-off anniversary celebration will be held at the Narrows Center for the Arts on Saturday, March 23rd, 1-3 PM and is open and free to the public.Families are especially welcome!The exhibit will be up through Saturday, April 27th.Gallery hours are Wednesday thru Saturday, 12-5 PM.For more information contact the Narrows at 508-324-1926, Andrea Klimt at aklimt@umassd.edu, or SER-Jobs for Progress at 508-676-1916.
SER National Hosts First STEM-Focused Community Day
Former NASA Astronaut Jose M. Hernandez to address 2,000+ students
Irving, Texas, March 22, 2018 — More than 2,000 Dallas-Fort Worth area students are expected to participate in SER Jobs for Progress National, Inc.’s first Community Day at Mountain View College on Thursday, May 17, 2018.
Community Day was added as part of SER National’s STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Mathematics) programs and as interest in SER’s year-round Robotics Program has grown. SER’s program is a hands-on educational experience, led by engineering students and professionals. The program also enhances middle and high school students’ academic, technical and leadership skills.
Former migrant worker turned NASA astronaut and engineer Jose M. Hernandez, who decided as a high school senior that he wanted to travel into space, will be the featured keynote speaker. Fernando Rosario, President and Founder of Exeqpath, a leadership development company, also will address the students.
Community Day will follow a two-day SER Robotics & Drone Competition, held as part of SER’s Annual Conference, May 15-16 at the Crowne Plaza-Dallas, 14315 Midway Road, in Addison. This year, 350 students from six area middle and high schools are expected to compete.
Community Day will also feature a job fair, where young people will have an opportunity to apply for jobs, internships and co-ops or work-study programs. Workshops and displays from an array of corporations and the Armed Forces, including the U.S. Army, Naval Academy, Air Force, NASA, CIA, FedEx, Charter, and Comcast will also be presented.
“We believe the U.S. Army and America’s educators have a common goal and we are committed to working together to motivate, educate, train and develop today’s youth to be leaders, decision makers and citizen-contributors that achieve life-long success,” said Lieutenant Colonel James E. Zoizack, Commander for the U.S. Army Dallas Recruiting Battalion. “The Army offers great educational programs such as March2Success and the ASVAB Career Exploration programs.
We have other programs that are anchored in fitness training, leadership, character development, education readiness, internships and STEM programs. These tools are ways the Army gives back to the community and the Nation we serve.”
Former NASA Astronaut Jose M. Hernandez to address 2,000+ students
Irving, Texas, March 22, 2018 — More than 2,000 Dallas-Fort Worth area students are expected to participate in SER Jobs for Progress National, Inc.’s first Community Day at Mountain View College on Thursday, May 17, 2018.
Community Day was added as part of SER National’s STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Mathematics) programs and as interest in SER’s year-round Robotics Program has grown. SER’s program is a hands-on educational experience, led by engineering students and professionals. The program also enhances middle and high school students’ academic, technical and leadership skills.
Former migrant worker turned NASA astronaut and engineer Jose M. Hernandez, who decided as a high school senior that he wanted to travel into space, will be the featured keynote speaker. Fernando Rosario, President and Founder of Exeqpath, a leadership development company, also will address the students.
Community Day will follow a two-day SER Robotics & Drone Competition, held as part of SER’s Annual Conference, May 15-16 at the Crowne Plaza-Dallas, 14315 Midway Road, in Addison. This year, 350 students from six area middle and high schools are expected to compete.
Community Day will also feature a job fair, where young people will have an opportunity to apply for jobs, internships and co-ops or work-study programs. Workshops and displays from an array of corporations and the Armed Forces, including the U.S. Army, Naval Academy, Air Force, NASA, CIA, FedEx, Charter, and Comcast will also be presented.
“We believe the U.S. Army and America’s educators have a common goal and we are committed to working together to motivate, educate, train and develop today’s youth to be leaders, decision makers and citizen-contributors that achieve life-long success,” said Lieutenant Colonel James E. Zoizack, Commander for the U.S. Army Dallas Recruiting Battalion. “The Army offers great educational programs such as March2Success and the ASVAB Career Exploration programs. We have other programs that are anchored in fitness training, leadership, character development, education readiness, internships and STEM programs. These tools are ways the Army gives back to the community and the Nation we serve.”
For more information about Community Day 2018, click here.
For more information about this grant or other SER National programs, please contact Rafaela Schwan via e-mail at rschwan@ser-national.org or by phone at (469) 549-3694, or by fax at (469) 549-3684.
About SER National – SER Jobs for Progress National, Inc. (SER National) was created in 1964 by a collaboration of the League of United Latin American Citizens and the American GI Forum. Since then, SER National has played a key role in the nation’s workforce and education service delivery systems focusing on underrepresented and underserved populations. Today, SER National annually serves over 1,200,000 individuals through its national network. SER is the Spanish verb for “to be” and an acronym for Service, Employment, and Redevelopment. SER National’s mission is to formulate, advocate, and implement initiatives that will result in the increased development and utilization of America’s human resources, with emphasis on the needs of Hispanics, in the areas of education, training, literacy, employment, affordable housing, business, and economic opportunity. SER’s vision is to enable underserved populations to fully participate in the socio-economic mainstream and achieve equal access and parity in society. To learn about SER National’s programs, please visit www.ser-national.org.
Register nowfor free SER MUJER workshops at the 2018 Annual Ser National Conference! The SER MUJER program seeks to encourage and empower aspiring women entrepreneurs by providing financial literacy, entrepreneurship and business development training. The conference and training will be held May 15-16, 2018 at the Crowne Plaza Dallas in Addison, Texas. Training includes courses on business development, financial management, risk management, and tax planning, as well as networking and funding opportunities with other women entrepreneurs.
José M. Hernández is an American engineer and former NASA astronaut. Hernández was assigned to the crew of Space Shuttle mission STS-128. He also served as Chief of the Materials and Processes Branch of the Johnson Space Center.
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Keynote Speaker
Dr. Alicia Abella, VP of Advanced Technology Realization at AT&T Services, Inc., will be the keynote speaker at luncheon on Tuesday.
Dr. Alicia Abella is Vice President of Advanced Technology Realization at AT&T Services, Inc. where she drives the overall execution of the end-to-end planning, architecture, design, development and deployment of advanced network technologies across AT&T, including Domain 2.0 AT&T Integrated Cloud, ECOMP, Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Software Define Networking (SDN), 5G, and Edge Computing. Prior to her current role, Dr. Abella spent over twenty years conducting research and leading multiple highly technical staff members.
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Keynote Speaker
Fernando Rosario will be speaking on Community Day.
[one_sixth padding=”0 10px 0 10px”][/one_sixth][five_sixth_last padding=”0 10px 0 10px”]Mr. Fernando Rosario is the president and founder of Exeqpath, a leadership development company. Additionally, he is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Raisal, a commercial lending company, and a former executive within Accenture’s Human Resources Talent Acquisition organization, managing the overall diversity recruiting efforts in North America.[/five_sixth_last]
Community Day Speaker
Lieutenant Colonel James E. Zoizack, Dallas Army Recruiting Battalion Commander, will be the opening speaker at Community Day.
LTC James Zoizack is a native of Buffalo, New York. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1990 and was commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer through the Army Officer Candidate School in 1999 at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is a graduate of the Command and General Staff College, the Field Artillery Captains’ Career course and the Field Artillery Officer Basic course. He holds a Masters of Arts Degree in Management and Leadership from Webster University.
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Click here to see pictures from the 2017 Conference.
We invite you to attend our women’s conference for adult women who are ready to take the next big step in their lives and make their dreams come true!
Project S.O.Y. in partnership with SER National, SER Mujer, and the Coca-Cola Program welcome you to join us for a women’s conference, “SHAPING A BRIGHT FUTURE”! Keynote speaker will be CEO and President of Community Connections, LLC, Theresa Martinez. This event is for women 18 and up who are interested in hearing about learning how to achieve your goals through entrepreneurship and success. A free lunch will be provided!
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[/one_sixth][five_sixth_last padding=”0 10px 0 10px”]Mr. Fernando Rosario is the president and founder of Exeqpath, a leadership development company. Additionally, he is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Raisal, a commercial lending company, and a former executive within Accenture’s Human Resources Talent Acquisition organization, managing the overall diversity recruiting efforts in North America.[/five_sixth_last]
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