ICYMI: FIRST LADY JILL BIDEN PROMOTES BUILD BACK BETTER AGENDA AT LEHIGH VALLEY PRESCHOOL

PENNSYLVANIA — Yesterday, First Lady Jill Biden visited an Allentown preschool where she met with students, staff and members of the Lehigh Valley’s Latino community. Dr. Biden visited The Learning Hub in Center City Allentown, where she observed some of the school’s 160 students go through their lessons. Dr. Biden also sat down with members from the region’s health care networks, business community and nonprofits for a ‘charla,’ where folks shared their stories of rising up from poverty to make a difference in the Lehigh Valley.

See below for local coverage:

The Morning Call: First lady Jill Biden visits Allentown for chat with Latinos, preschoolers  

First lady Jill Biden visited an Allentown preschool Wednesday afternoon where she met with students, staff and members of the Lehigh Valley’s Latino community to promote her husband’s stalled Build Back Better agenda.

The White House promoted Biden’s visit as a charla, Spanish for chat, with members of the Latino community. October is Hispanic Heritage Month, and the 2020 census found more than 52% of Allentown residents identify as Hispanic. With approximately 63,500 Latino residents, Allentown has the second-largest Hispanic population in the state after Philadelphia.

Jessica Rodriguez-Colon, a caseworker with Valley Youth House, recounted growing up impoverished a few blocks from the Allentown preschool. She and her family were in and out of homeless shelters and often relied on church food pantries for their next meal. She told Biden she looked to the social workers and volunteers helping her family to find inspiration.

“I said, ‘That’s going to be me someday. This is not the life I want to live,’ ” Rodriguez-Colon said.

“I really want to bring you hope,” Biden said. “The Latino community is really important to me and to Joe, and that’s why I’m here.”

Juan Martinez, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who has built the Don Juan Mex Grill restaurant chain in the Lehigh Valley, appealed to Biden to support community colleges. His parents only received an eighth-grade education, but their guidance helped him attend LCCC, Muhlenberg College and DeSales University, where he earned his MBA. It was a message for which Biden, an English professor at a Virginia community college, offered quick support.

“She looked sincerely interested in what we were saying. I hope she does listen. Time will tell,” Martinez said afterward.

Lehigh Valley Live: Jill Biden hears local stories of hardship and hope in Lehigh Valley ‘charla’

The Lehigh Valley stories that Jill Biden heard on Wednesday all had similar themes: hardship, help, success and hope.

There was Juan Martinez, the owner of Don Juan Mex Grill, born in the Dominican Republic, an immigrant at 16 who got a local college education, started his own business and managed to keep it flexible even as it lost most of its customers during the worst pandemic in a generation.

There was Victoria Montero, who emigrated from Mexico at 13 and worked her way through St. Luke’s University Health Network, where she now manages equity initiatives. She also heads the Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley.

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Each spoke of their past difficulties; current needs for education, housing and pandemic aid; and a desire to give back to their community.

“That is so admirable. I think it’s a mark of a really good community that you bring people forward,” Biden said.

CBS Philly: First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Visits Allentown For Listening Event With Hispanic Community

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (CBS) — First Lady Dr. Jill Biden paid a visit to the Lehigh Valley on Wednesday. It was part of a swing through several states that had a focus on the Hispanic community.

Biden visited the Learning Hub in Allentown, which is a headstart center.

The conversation touched on a lot of topics, including President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.

“I’ve always been a proponent of free community college because I see how my students struggle every single day so I want to bring you hope. I really want to bring you hope,” Dr. Biden said. “The Latino community is really important to me and to Joe, and that’s why I’m here.”

WFMZ: Primera Dama Jill Biden visitará Allentown para celebrar Mes de la Herencia Hispana

ALLENTOWN, PA.- La primera dama Jill Biden visitará el Valle Lehigh este miércoles.

Está programada para aparecer en The Learning Hub en Allentown como parte del Mes Nacional de la Herencia Hispana.

A ella se unirán el Secretario de Salud y Servicios Humanos Xavier Becerra, así como la Representante Susan Wild.

Participarán en una mesa redonda con miembros de la comunidad hispana.

NBC10: First Lady Dr. Jill Biden Visits Allentown 

In the final week of hispanic heritage month, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited Allentown. She met with members of the hispanic community to learn more about their needs.

From balconies, parking garages and lining the streets, those who love Jill Biden and Joe, too, came out to catch a glimpse of the first lady in Allentown. She paid a visit to kids here at the learning hub and eventually sat down to talk with latino leaders.

“The latino community is really important to me and to Joe. And that’s why I’m here. And that’s why I went to Kansas and Illinois and that’s why I’m not going to stop.”

As a group, they brought up issues of finding housing, food insecurity, immigration, diversity and how to bring economic recovery to hispanic and latino communities like allentown.

“We are connecting the community to many different resources. We’ve already started with the American Rescue Plan, sending checks to families because people didn’t have food, didn’t have shelter.

“Dr. Biden met with some of the finest members of our hispanic community and really listened to them. Her background in education and being a mother and all of that really resonated, I think, with this crowd.”

The Brown and White: Jill Biden visits Allentown

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Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, and Rep. Susan Wild joined Biden at The Learning Hub. 

According to The Learning Hub’s website, they are a head start center. Gov. Tom Wolf visited the Learning Hub in September. 

“During the visit, the governor highlighted the $30 million increase in state funding so more children can attend a quality pre-k program,” a press release from Wolf’s office said.

WLVR News Tweeted a photo of Biden watching children at The Learning Hub sing and dance to “a penguin comes to tea.”

WFMZ: Jill Biden meets with members of the Hispanic community in Allentown

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