Who is Concilio you ask? Founded in 1962, The Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations, Inc. (Concilio) is the oldest Latino organization in Philadelphia and has a well-established reputation as a leader for Latino family services. Our mission is to ensure that equitable social, educational, cultural, prevention/intervention services and programs are made available to the Philadelphia community. In 2012, they will be celebrating 50 years.
For countless years they have produced the Hispanic Fiesta at Penn's Landing, the Puerto Rican Day Parade on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and other events part of the Puero Rican Festival. Although last year there was some outrage within the community due to name changes, this year they are celebrating 50 years of providing outstanding service to the community.
While the cultural events are important to Concilio, they also are known for their community programs. Through collaborations with the Department of Human Services, the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation and the Office of Housing and Urban Development, Concilio offers adoptions, family foster care, parenting classes, summer youth programming and housing counseling.
Concilio has also grown drastically withini the past year reaching new heights including developing partnerships with Temple University's School of Tourism & Hospitality Management as well as Ceisler Media and Issue Advocacy. Temple University was able to provide astounding statistics as to who exactly comes to the Hispanic Fiesta. In a nutshell, a little over 50% festival attendees are between 20 and 34 and 20% of the attendees learned about it through the internet and social media. It just goes to show you the growing power of online media.
So what's happening this year? You'll just have to wait and find out. Visit elconcilio.net for more information or their Facebook page.
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