Los Mexicans De Filadelfia Case Study

South Philadelphia has long been known as a home to its hundred-year-old Italian immigrant community. However, in the late 1990’s, the Mexicans who began arriving in Philadelphia were young, single men. They came to America to work and left family and sweethearts behind. They tended to concentrate around the Italian Market area. Today, there is evidence that the Mexicans are settling in. Couples are getting married and having children. Continued migration and a baby boom have resulted in a tripling of the Mexican population in the area in the last 10 years. As the result, Mexicans are now the second largest Latino group in the city. Despite the language barrier, the Mexican community starts growing with businesses, such as grocery stores, hair
Agreeing with this statement, in one online article named Los Mexicanos de Filadelfia Part Two: Work, Family and Fear by Tom Ferrick Jr. and Daniel Denvir talking about how Mexicans’ lives look like in Philadelphia, Dionicio Jimenez, the Mexican who is executive chef at Stephen Starr’ El Rey restaurant, was asked: Is there any restaurant in town of a decent size that doesn’t have Mexicans working? He paused for a moment and said “No.” This shows that restaurants owners employ Mexicans to work for them as waiters and cooks. Back to the owner of Moctezuma restaurant on Ninth Street, he comments, “I employ Mexicans in this community and help them to earn their living. It’s hard to find someone who speaks good English but they are good enough to serve people who are not Mexican. Besides, I am always here so if they have questions about the menu, I am happy to help them out.” Restaurants have an important role in the Mexican community; it is not only a tool to facilitate culture to others, but also a place that makes the life of the ethnic population better. As Brian, an interviewer in the article Putting Mexican Cuisine on the Table: The Cultural Dimension of Cuisine as Connecting Point by Patricia Jimenez Kwast and Ji Hae Kim, which is about the role of Mexican restaurants in three different New York neighborhoods as facilitators of
They have a cultural center named Mexican Culture Center (MCC) located on 111 South Independence Mall East, Suite 310, Philadelphia. The Mexican Culture Center is a non-profit organization founded in 1994 to promoting Mexico and its rich heritage, history, people, cuisine, and traditions. As stated, one of its missions is to promote and educate the public on the arts and culture of Mexico. At this center, there are a lot of art events to promote Mexican history and culture, such as a running exhibition called “Paint the Revolution” which tells the story of the exhilarating period – Mexican Revolution in 1910 – through a remarkable range of images from many famous artists. Through this event, people will have a better understanding of how Mexican culture and politics were shaped. Another event is the Musical Event, where there are Mexican singers, chamber orchestras, and performances by Aztec and Mexican folkloric ballet groups. There are so many different kinds of art events, yet they have the same mission – celebrating the beautiful and historical culture. According to the statistic on the official website of MCC, the success in spreading cultural values to other people is joyful when there are more and more people participate in those cultural events. For example, the annual Mexican Independence Day Festival each September at Penn’s Landing attracts upwards of