Puerto Rican Cultural Center

Part 2: The fight for Loíza continues. For decades, the “Villa Vaca” Hacienda Grande community in Puerto Rico has been home to generations of families, grandparents, parents, and children building their lives side by side. About five years ago, they were told their future was secure: sign the contracts, pay $1 in rent, and you’ll never have to leave.

Now, that promise is unraveling. An Illinois Act 22 developer is putting this community at risk of displacement, threatening to uproot elders and young families who have nowhere else to go. What was supposed to protect them may now cost them everything.

This isn’t just about land. It’s about trust, history, and the right to stay in the place they’ve always called home. Listen to their stories. Share them. Stand with Loíza. ✊🏽🇵🇷

People in Loíza were told they could keep their homes and now an Act 22 investor, Dr. Yan Katnelson, of Ora World company, from Illinois wants to leave them without a home. The community of Hacienda Grande (Villa Vaca) is standing up. These are their stories.

Here in Chicago's Humboldt Park, many community groups are preserving and sharing the powerful history and Puerto Rican cultural identity carried within la Bomba Puertorriqueña. Through music, dance, and storytelling, they’re building connections across past, present, and future generations. Learn more about them and the leaders keeping this tradition alive. Join the movement, take a class, or experience the energy of a live Bombazo! 💃🏽🥁

AfriCaribe was founded in 2000 by Evaristo “Tito” Rodriguez as a means of celebrating the African influence in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. It is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and development of these cultures through music, dance, theater, and other media.

Colectivo Sayba is an Afro-Puerto Rican traditional Bomba ensemble founded in 2023 that unites ceremony, education, and artistry to uplift cultural memory and collective resilience through performances, workshops, and community events.

La Escuelita Bombera de Corazón is an Afro-Puerto Rican diasporic performing arts school rooted in the tradition of Bomba. It was founded in 2009 by Ivelisse Díaz, also Director & founder of Las BomPleneras, and has since evolved into a cultural space that continues this legacy, creating opportunities for all to learn and grow, while connecting folks from across the Puerto Rican diaspora back home.