Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Our Culture, Our Communities

For many members of the PEU family, Hispanic Heritage Month is personal.

It is about the languages spoken at home, the traditions passed from one generation to the next, and the pride that comes from seeing your own culture reflected in the people and neighborhoods you serve. Across PEU, many of our staff members come from Hispanic and Latino backgrounds, and those experiences often shape how they approach their work and connect with New Yorkers.

For Norma Cuautil, an Outreach Canvasser from Mexico, her heritage is something she carries with her every time she steps into a community. Recently, Norma participated in the NYC Meal Pack and canvassed in the Bronx as part of Small Business Services’ Business Owner Bill of Rights outreach.

“Being Hispanic, to me, feels like living in two worlds because I can share ideas and connect with others in two different languages,” Norma said. “It’s also a meaningful responsibility and a source of pride.”

That ability to move between languages and cultures is especially meaningful in a city as diverse as New York. For Norma, speaking with someone in Spanish is not about translating, it’s about them feeling more comfortable asking a question, and reminding them that the person standing at their door understands something about where they come from.

“Through my work, I’m grateful to communicate with others while staying connected to my culture and Hispanic community,” she said.

For Karina Vargas, an Outreach Manager whose parents were from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, the work she does at PEU is deeply personal. Her background reflects two of the many cultures that have helped shape New York City, and it informs the way she thinks about service and the communities her team reaches every day.

“For me, public service is deeply personal,” Karina said. “It’s about making sure that every New Yorker, regardless of where they come from or what language they speak, knows that their city sees them, values them, and is here to support them.”

That idea is at the center of PEU’s work. Many of the Hispanic and Latino New Yorkers our teams encounter live in communities where families may face economic, housing, language, or other barriers to accessing government services. PEU works to close some of that distance by going directly into neighborhoods, providing translated materials and multilingual assistance, and helping people navigate systems that can sometimes feel complicated or intimidating.

“Serving the Latino community in New York means helping people navigate systems that can often feel overwhelming,” Karina said, “and making sure families have access to the resources, information, and opportunities they deserve.”

Not everyone making those connections is standing at a doorstep, but the work they do is critical to PEU getting things done. Operations Manager Yarabi Sealey sees her role differently. Much of her work happens behind the scenes, supporting the people who are out in communities every day.

“For me, especially in my current role, public service means supporting the people who are out there doing the work every day and making sure they have the support and resources they need,” Yarabi said.

For her, being Latina adds another layer of meaning to that responsibility.

“As a Latina, it means a lot to me to be part of a unit that does so much for communities across New York, including communities that reflect my own background and experiences,” she said. “Even though much of my work happens behind the scenes, I know that the support we provide helps our teams make government feel more accessible and welcoming and ultimately make a real difference.”

Norma, Karina, and Yarabi do very different jobs, but their stories reflect something that makes PEU special. The diversity of the people doing this work often mirrors the diversity of the people we serve. Language, culture, family, and lived experience become another way to build trust and make government feel a little closer.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate the communities we serve, but we also celebrate the people within PEU who carry those communities with them every day.

As Karina said, it is “a reminder of the strength, culture, and contributions of our community.” For PEU, those contributions are not limited to one month. They are part of who we are and how we serve New Yorkers every day.