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NVCC Brings Local Entrepreneur, Students, Literacy Volunteers Together Around Narratives of Coffee and Farming
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Naugatuck Valley Community College President Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., led a discussion around stories of farming and El Cuento Del Cafecito, or, A Cafecito Story a book by Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez which was translated by President De Filippis. The event, which was hosted at the College on October 14, brought together students, faculty and staff from NVCC, and students from Hartford’s Prince Technical High School around narratives of coffee and farming. Helping coordinate the event was the Literacy Volunteers of Greater Waterbury, a community organization that offers free programs for adults in basic literacy, ESL, family literacy, and building workforce and job readiness skills. Additionally, local entrepreneur Alba Reveron, owner of Alba’s Cafécitos, served traditionally brewed and pour over coffee to attendees. Reveron’s Waterbury-based business sells artisanal organic coffee beans to area restaurants and specialty shops. A Cafecito Story is an eco-fable based on Alvarez and her husband's experiences trying to reclaim a small coffee farm in her native Dominican Republic. It is also about the fair trade movement that is providing farmers with opportunities that promote positive changes in their lives and in their communities. The book contains woodblock illustrations by Belkis Ramirez, one of the most celebrated artists in the Dominican Republic. Students shared family stories of farming from a wide range of states including Iowa, Indiana, and Connecticut. Attendees also learned about the important past-time in certain cultures of conversing around coffee. President De Filippis emphasized the importance of story-telling that promotes women’s stories so that women’s experiences are included in our collective history, but also on the important act of women writing their stores so that their lives and experiences provide meaning to younger generations.
