[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 148 (Thursday, September 29, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               HONORING UPROSE ON THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 28, 2016

  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to UPROSE, a pillar 
of social justice organizing in New York City and Brooklyn's oldest 
Puerto Rican/Latino community based organization. This year, UPROSE 
will celebrate five decades of fighting for progress and advancing the 
rights of New York's working families and people of color.
  UPROSE was founded during the civil rights movement and has made 
significant strides over the last five decades. The organization has 
helped prevent polluting power plants from being located in lower 
income neighborhoods. It has impacted transportation policy, improving 
transit options for hardworking Brooklyn communities. The organization 
has made fighting climate change a centerpiece of its agenda. Indeed, 
it has sent three young people of color to Antarctica and one to the 
North Pole on scientific expeditions, to observe these environmental 
issues firsthand.
  Likewise, UPROSE has been at the forefront of ensuring that our local 
industrial sector continues to blossom, while providing good paying, 
union jobs for local residents in the community.
  Centered near Brooklyn's Sunset Park, UPROSE has always stood for 
this neighborhood's diversity. With a thriving immigrant population and 
more affordable housing than many parts of Brooklyn, Sunset Park 
attracts new waves of working people every year. UPROSE has stood with 
them for generations, empowering these New Yorkers to improve and 
strengthen the neighborhood, borough and City that they call home.
  Mr. Speaker, after five decades UPROSE remains an anchor in our 
community, fighting for justice and improving our community locally. I 
would ask all my colleagues to join me on their fifty years of progress 
and wish them the best for many more years of achievement and success.

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