Record-Journal (Meriden, CT)
January 30, 2012 Section: Local and State Page: 13By Russell Blair
WALLINGFORD – Forty years ago, a group of local Latinos gathered together in a South Cherry Street storefront to create an organization to help Spanish-speakers adjust to life in town.
“These citizens needed assistance with the language barrier,” said Maria Harlow, executive director of SCOW. “Those same needs are similar to today.”
Harlow said SCOW works to assist local Latinos with everything from learning to speak, read and write in English to legal and medical help.
The growing Latino community prompted the need for SCOW to move into larger locations on a number of occasions. From the South Cherry Street office, SCOW packed up and moved down the street to a space in the railroad station. In 2001, having outgrown the cramped office, SCOW moved once again, this time to 284 Washington St., a 7,000square-foot building that previously housed the Wallingford Senior Center.
SCOW has continued to grow since 2001, launching the Mariachi Academy of Connecticut in 2010. Today, the organization services more than 700 people in a given month, Harlow said. The latest U.S. Census figures say that 8 percent of Wallingford‘s population is Latino, or about 3,500 people.
Harlow was born on Jan. 4, 1972; just a day after SCOW first opened its doors. In her two years as executive director, preceded by three years on the Board of Directors, she has been working hard to raise SCOW’s profile in the community. The Mariachi Academy, she said, has performed at a number of community events.
SCOW receives the majority of its funding – 70 percent – from the state. The town’s Program Planning office handles SCOW’s accounts, and the town kicks in $10,000 toward its programs. But the reliance on state funding is something Harlow hopes to curb.
The organization has almost had to shut down for good on two occasions when state funding was in limbo. In 1991, SCOW temporarily closed in July when funding dried up because of a state budget crisis. The agency reopened in October, once funds were secured.
In 2003, SCOW received a $20,000 grant from the Connecticut Association for United Spanish Action, which helped keep it afloat.
Harlow said the organization is ramping up its fundraising efforts, and that a first-ever wine-tasting held last year brought in a number of donations. State funds once comprised nearly 90 percent of the budget, she said. Harlow said that as SCOW has gotten better known in town, private donations have gone up, and the group has partnered with other social service organizations and businesses in town. Recently, SCOW received a grant of $7,785 from AT&T.
Stephen Knight, a former Republican town councilor, joined SCOW’s Board of Directors about four or five years ago. He said that SCOW has not only helped the Latino community, but helped the greater Wallingford community by teaching about their culture.
“It’s a win-win,” Knight said. “When we understand each other better, it makes for a better community.”
Knight said the group has launched a fundraising effort, hoping to raise $40,000 in celebration of its 40th birthday. A mariachi concert is scheduled for June at Choate Rosemary Hall.
Becoming more independent of state funds would allow SCOW to host more diverse programs. The state funds, he said, “are very well prescribed.”
Knight, who has lived in town for 27 years, said he’s seen SCOW grow from an organization “in the shadows” to one that is vibrant and well known throughout town.
Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said that SCOW is a valuable asset to Wallingford.
“The SCOW staff really has blossomed,” Dickinson said. “They are an important and entertaining part of our community. They are a great resource … I’m happy to see them succeed.”
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