Wilmer Solorzano (Spanish testimony) on community transformation and COPA
Solorzano, representing Fundación Venezuela Nueva Esperanza, argues that housing must come with employment, training, and community building, not just repairs. He sees COPA as an opportunity to preserve communities and fight displacement, urging the city to build housing and community together. Testimony delivered in Spanish with translation.
Pero no se me vayan.
Hola, buenos.
Soy Wilmer Solorzano y hoy hablo en representación de Fundación Venezuela Nueva Esperanza.
En BNE hemos aprendido algo fundamental.
Una comunidad no se transforma solamente reparando edificios, se transforma cuando...
Transformamos la vida de las personas que viven dentro de ellas.
En el Bron hemos trabajado en viviendas, reparando baños, tuberías, paredes y negocios.
Y al entrar en los hogares descubrimos una realidad que muchas veces no se ve desde afuera.
Por eso hacemos una pregunta.
Si los inmigrantes somos parte de la fuerza laboral que construye esta ciudad, ¿cómo hacemos para ser también parte de las oportunidades que esta ciudad construye?
Porque no basta construir viviendas.
Tenemos que construir comunidad.
Necesitamos viviendas dignas, pero también necesitamos empleo, capacitación, emprendimiento.
oportunidades para nuestros jóvenes y protección para nuestros adultos mayores.
Por eso, vemos en COPA una oportunidad importante para preservar nuestras comunidades y combatir el desplazamiento.
Pero desde nuestra experiencia, queremos ser claros.
La vivienda debe venir acompañada de mantenimiento, calidad y responsabilidad.
Y aquí está nuestro compromiso como comunidad.
No queremos dividirnos, queremos unirnos.
El Bronx necesita más bandos, necesita soluciones.
Queremos que nuestros jóvenes aprendan oficios, queremos fortalecer a nuestras familias, queremos generar trabajo digno, queremos que las familias participen en la transformación de sus propios vecindarios,
porque una vivienda no debe ser solamente un techo.
Debe ser una puerta hacia una oportunidad.
Preservar una comunidad no significa solamente preservar sus paredes, significa preservar a su gente.
Y cuando damos oportunidades, capacitamos a nuestros jóvenes, fortalecemos a nuestras familias y generamos trabajo digno, no solamente estamos reparando edificios, estamos construyendo futuro.
Por eso Fundación Venezuela, una nueva esperanza, dice hoy, generemos trabajo, construyamos vivienda, preservemos comunidad y construyamos juntos el futuro del Bronx.
Muchas gracias.
My name is Wilmer Solorzano, and today I speak on behalf of Venezuela Nueva Esperanza Foundation, or Fundación Venezuela Nueva Esperanza.
At BNE, we've learned something
primordial.
A community is not only transformed through repairing buildings, it is transformed when we transform the lives of the people that live inside of them.
In the Bronx, we work in houses, repairing bathrooms, pipes, walls, and businesses.
At the moment of entering the houses, we discover a reality that a lot of times cannot be seen from the outside.
And that's why we pose a question.
If the immigrants are the workforce that builds the city,
How do we do to also be part of the opportunities that this city builds?
Because it is not enough with building houses.
We have to build community.
We need...
Worthy houses or housing.
But we also need employment.
training, entrepreneurship, opportunities for our young, and protection for our elderly.
That's why we see in COPA an opportunity, an important opportunity to preserve our communities and fight against
displacement.
But from our experience, we want to be clear.
Housing should be accompanied by maintenance, quality, and responsibility.
The bronze does not
The Browns does not need more different parties.
It needs solutions.
We want that our young...
To learn occupations.
We want to strengthen our families.
We want to generate
worth jobs or work.
We want the families to participate in the transformation of their own neighborhoods because housing
should not only be a roof or to have a roof.
It should be a door
towards an opportunity.
Preserving a community does not only mean to preserve its walls, it means to preserve its people.
And when we give opportunities, we generate training
for our young.
We strengthen our families and we generate worthy job or work.
We are not only repairing buildings, we are building the future.
That's why at Fundación Venezuela Nueva Esperanza or Venezuela Nueva Esperanza Foundation, it says today, let's generate work.
Let's build housing.
Let's preserve community.
and let's build together the future of the brands.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Bueno, después me pueden decir cuál es, me pueden recordar el edificio donde viven.
Sí.
I just asked them to share their address with me after the hearing.
Well, thank you so much.
Gracias por su participación.
All right, y'all, this is panel 13 of 24.
So when you ask me if you can conclude, please do conclude.
Otherwise, we won't be able to get to everyone because I have to pick up my children and there are no other council members here.
I was going to say adults.
There are no other council members here.
Okay.