Community Navigators Max Martin and Carmen Perez present to the Jamestown School Board (June 7, 2022)

The Jamestown School Board received its first update on the new Community Navigator program that was started this school year.

The Community Navigator positions were created to help provide a connection between the district and Latino population, including helping overcome language barriers between families and the schools as well helping navigate the technical aspects of schooling.

Navigator Max Martin said he and fellow navigator Carmen Perez spent the first two months of the school year working with the administration to determine needs and responsibilities before starting work with the community, “We saw 139 families, 131 students, and 522 requests. A little note about the requests – Those are requests that are initially one time. It doesn’t mean that additional requests weren’t done or requested. So you probably have if you write everything down, we’re probably talking about thousands instead of 500.”

Carmen Perez says she spends most of her time at the high school while visiting the Tech Academy once or twice a week, “So here’s our areas of concerns: we have family support, attendance, student support, academic, and behavior. One of the biggest (at the high school) is attendance. You know, a lot of things this year that occurred with that is transportation, weather, COVID. COVID was the number one thing too.”
Perez said providers have come to the high school to do presentations and let students know what’s available for resources and career paths, “This is our Espagnol Facebook page for JHS. We’re slowly growing. We got about 80 people on there. We’re growing. Just to connect with them about some of the things going on at the high school, outside services, anything they need, if parents need to get a hold of me here. But, it’s just great that they have something where they’re informed.”

Martin said a resource guide was created for Hispanic families, “And what this does, it gives you all the important part in Spanish for education, the responsibility of the teacher, the responsibility of the student, and the responsibility of the parents. We also give them all the information that they need to reach, if they need to reach anybody in the school district. And one thing that I put in here is something neat. It’s something that tracks the kid from the beginning to end of graduation. So, they can actually see and checkmark all the courses that the kids are taking to see when they’re ready to graduate they’re actually ready to graduate.”

Martin said a referral form also was created for teachers and administrators to easily access Navigator services.

Superintendent Dr. Kevin Whitaker said the second Community Navigator presentation to the board will happen this summer and be focused on the data and outcomes of bringing on the new positions. Two new Community Navigators were approved in the 2022-23 school budget and will start in the Fall.

He said there’s currently a disconnect with schools and the Latino community, “So we have focused on that segment of our population by hiring two bilingual navigators. And their purpose is to make sure that things like questions about credits, or attendance, or connections with teachers can get made in a way and have a trusted person to turn to who can help them navigate those things.”

Max Martin and Carmen Perez are the two new educators hired. Max Martin is currently the President and CEO of the Hispanic Community Council of Chautauqua County. He also is an instructor and Hispanic Outreach Coordinator at Jamestown Business College. Carmen Perez has worked for Jamestown Public Schools since 2007, most recently as the Career Development Liaison providing outreach to Hispanic and Latino students and families.

NY Assemblyman Andy Goodell, Rev. Chloe Smith, Hispanic Community Council of Chautauqua County director Max Martin, YWCA executive Director Jacqueline Chiarot Phelps, and Jamestown Councilwoman Maria Jones.

JAMESTOWN – Dozens of community members stopped by the YWCA of Jamestown Thursday to take part in the YWCA Jamestown’s “Stand Against Racism” Pledge Signing event.

According to YWCA executive director Jacqueline Chiarot Phelps, the event was one of many held by YWCAs across the country to  Stand Against Racism from April 25-28.

“The YWCA’s mission includes eliminating racism. It’s the fist part of our mission. So we were happy to come together today as part of the YWCA USA’s ‘Stand Against Racism’ to encourage this community to include all and to realize that we are one community and to eliminate racism,” Chiarot Phelps said.

The event also served as the kickoff to the re-start of YWCA’s Social Justice Committee, which will meet on the third Wednesday of each month, starting in May.

“Part of today’s mission was to kick off our Social Justice Committee and that will be restarting every third Wednesday of the month. So May 15 will be our first meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the YWCA, 430 North Main Street,” Chiarot Phelps said. “It’s open to the public. We believe that eliminating racism is a huge part of our community and we want to make sure that the community members who are engaged and excited to do that are included.”

Joining Phelps in speaking at the event were several local officials, including Assemblyman Andy Goodell, Hispanic Community Council chair Max Martin, Rev. Chloe Smith, and city councilwoman Maria Jones, who said that while the current national climate might make us think there are major problems to making racial justice a reality, ground is being gained locally in the Jamestown area.

“The city of Jamestown is like a lot of cities in America. We thought that we had gotten so far ahead with racism, but now, recently, we’ve seen all the negative things that the news can give to us. But you know what? There’s been a lot of work, and a lot of caring, and a lot of improvement in this area. Don’t be jaded by the news all the time and bout how bad things are. Things are good, they can be good, and I believe they can be better in the city if all of us here – everybody in this room – takes part in what the YWCA is trying to do here,” Jones said.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the YWCA and its its mission, as well as how to become a part of the Social Justice Committee can visit YWCAOfJamestown.com.

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Gabbie Rosario Negrón y John Rosario Negrón del programa Hispanic Youth Radio entrevistaron a Max Martin, director del Hispanic Community Council en Jamestown, NY.

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Hispanic Youth Radio – March 23, 2019 Interview with Max Martin

Originally airing Saturday, March 23, 2019

Gabbie Rosario Negrón and John Rosario Negrón from the Hispanic Youth Radio program interview Max Martin, director of the Hispanic Community Council in Jamestown, NY.

Left to right: John Rosario Negrón, Max Martin, and Gabbie Rosario Negrón

During Monday’s meeting a contingent of community members from the Hispanic Community Council were on hand to attend the city council meeting.

Following the meeting, council president and CEO Max Martin said the purpose was to remind city officials of the Hispanic community in Jamestown.

We have a very vibrant and growing community. The thing that we have to be aware of as Latinos is that we don’t have a community, we have a population of us. We’re trying to work to create the community, but we need the community of Jamestown to be part of us. We can’t have separate a community. We need to have one community and that’s what makes a difference. That’s why where here. We don’t have to speak. Showing up is good enough.

None of those in attendance from the council spoke or addressed the city council. But Martin said the Hispanic Community does have concerns it wants the city to know about, including addressing the problem of housing, crime, and poor streets in many neighborhoods.

“I just spoke to a gentleman that lives on Franklin Street and he said they haven’t touched that street in 10 years, so tomorrow I’m going to go by there to take some pictures and find out what he’s talking about,” Martin said. “He said it looks like a third world street in Jamestown because in 10 years, nothing is done.”

Martin adds that while no one from the council or Hispanic community is running for office in this year’s election, it doesn’t mean they want to be disengaged in city government and affairs.  He says they will continue to try and serve as a unified voice and will continue to attend future city council meetings to make their presence known.

The Eastside Family YMCA

JAMESTOWN – There’s a new program director at the Eastside YMCA.

The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting this morning that Alex Lantigua has been appointed director of the youth facility and rec center located on E. Second Street. Lantigua will oversee how the Eastside Y meets the needs of the area youth and the city’s Latino population.

Lantigua is replacing former Eastside Y manager Max Martin, who was removed from the position he held for nearly five years in February.

The Eastside Family YMCA

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown YMCA held a community meeting Thursday night at the Eastside Family YMCA. The meeting was reportedly conducted by YMCA executive director Mark Eckendorf and was held in response to the firing of former Eastside Y manager Max Martin.

According to the Post-Journal, dozens of city residents attended the meeting to learn more about the future of the Y. The article stated that John Barber, who runs the Eastside YMCA’s middle school academy, will become the facility’s new operations manager.

Eckendorf did not go into details about why Martin was fired. However, Eastside Y advisory board member Dan Soderberg was in attendance and reportedly said some of the local foundations that provide funding for Y programming were not happy with some of the decisions Martin was making while running the Eastside Y and, as a result, had said they would pull funding in 2017.

Advisory board chair Alfonso Pagan was also in attendance to defend Martin and said that a petition is being circulated in the community, stating how the Hispanic community is displeased with the decision to terminate Martin.

The Eastside Y is a branch of the Jamestown area YMCA and has an annual operating budget of $150,000. It’s been learned that a local foundation, which has not been identified publicly, had told the Y it would pull $75,000 in funding for next year, which is half the Eastside Y’s annual budget. Eckendorf said the cut would have made it difficult to continue funding Martin’s manager salary. He also said that the Y will be working to find new funding in 2017 for the Eastside Y.

Max Martin

JAMESTOWN – The head of the Eastside Family YMCA has been fired.

The Jamestown Post-Journal is reporting Thursday that Max Martin was fired as manager of the Eastside Y, a position he’s held since 2011. The termination came after the Post-Journal ran an article in Wednesday’s paper focusing on a projected cut in funding for the facility, which provides programming for youth and families in Jamestown’s Hispanic community.

Martin, along with two members of the Eastside Y’s advisory board (Alfonso Pagan and John Watkins), were quoted in the paper as saying the facility was going to have its funding cut and as a result, would likely be forced to shut its doors.

Despite the timing, YMCA executive director Mark Eckendorf was quoted in Thursday’s article as saying that Wednesday’s story was not the reason why Martin was fired, but he would not disclose the reason for the termination, saying it wasn’t appropriate to discuss staff issues in the public.

According to the Post-Journal, a public meeting has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Eastside YMCA, located at 727 E. Second St., to discuss the next steps for the community.

The evening will feature Hispanic music and dance lessons from Bomba Queen Productions – who will present a group dance lesson entitled  “From The Caribbean to New York.” A surprise dance lesson will also be presented.

I addition to music and dance, there will also be a variety of Hispanic food focusing on dishes from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico and Colombia.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Max Martin at the Eastside Family YMCA.