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La Nuestra Comunidad Hispanic Festival
  The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department, in collaboration with CodaSound, the UA/CDC, the Jim Walter Partnership Center and other local social service agencies organized a Hispanic festival in order to gauge the needs of the residents in the University Area. This collective effort served in part to bridge the gap between the residents in this area and local law enforcement agencies, and it also raised awareness of the services that are available in the community.
  The festival was held at the UA/CDC complex on April 30th from noon to five. This is the second year that the festival has been implemented and there was an estimated turnout of about 1200 people. There was live music, food, prizes, games, and most importantly there was information about local agencies and the services that are available to the residents of the University Area. This year there was an innovative idea implemented to gather information about the needs of the University Area community. Dr. William Blount, in collaboration with Victoria Rodriguez and Manny Rivero from the Jim Walter Partnership Center, developed and translated questionnaire in order to gather information about the needs of the residents in this community.
This questionnaire was distributed in four parts at the festival and the participants that filled out the entire questionnaire were entered to win one of the various raffle prizes that were offered as an incentive. The four booths that were offering the questionnaire were the Jim Walter Partnership Center, the Sheriff’s Department, the Sun Coast Credit Union, and Fish and Wildlife. The raffle prizes consisted of four children’s bicycles with helmets provided by the Sheriff’s Department and by the UA/CDC, several soccer balls provided by the Mexican Consulate, and several $25 gift cards for gas and food that were also provided by the UA/CDC.  Once the questionnaires were completed, the data were analyzed and the results are as follow. The ultimate goal is to redistribute this information to the Sheriff’s Department and to the other social service agencies in order to help them provide better services to the community.   The festival had a great outcome and The Jim Walter Partnership Center will continue in its efforts in making the hispanic community a safer place.
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