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This is the fourth of a five-part series on the Jose P. Rizal Heritage Center (1332 W. Irving Park Rd.) in Chicago. Today we examine how the center is faring today.
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As we've seen through the tour of the Jose P. Rizal Heritage Center, there are groups who are presently utilizing its facilities, and there are individuals who come to the Center for some of the services it provides. However, this hasn't been enough reason for the Center to keep easily accessible hours. The current open hours are down to a third of what they used to be. After all, most organizations wouldn't meet during working hours, and from past experiences they don't often meet right after the weekend, either.
The true reason behind the hours cut is a common one – lack of money. Money is needed to keep the electricity on during those open hours, and to staff someone to overlook the facility. The whole building needs to be heated during the frigidly cold Chicago winters, while money needs to be raised to provide air conditioning to the second floor for the blistering hot Chicago summers. Thankfully, the Rizal Center is completely paid off and has no mortgage, while the non-profit status keeps it exempt from taxes.
These aren't enough breaks though. The building has a high monthly maintenance bill, partly due to the fact that the building itself is old. The pipe system is about fifty years old, and it incorporates none of the modern-day energy saving equipment or architecture. Center head Rene Abella has been working with local Pilipino handymen to get things upgraded, but that still requires cash.
The Center gets paid via various means. As mentioned before, room rentals and periodic pageants bring in money, as do the review classes the Center hosts. Probably the income channel hit hardest in recent times is membership dues. That number has dwindled over time for a variety of reasons.
First, differing ideologies and personalities have caused rifts and separations in the Pilipino community here. The Filipino American Council of Chicago (FACC), which runs the center, used to overlook over a hundred Chicago Pilipino organizations. Over time internal fighting and disagreements occurred, to the point where there are four (soon to be five) similar but separate Chicago Pilipino groups, each with their own agendas. This has split the community so much that each group insists on having their own Philippine Independence Day events.
Secondly, the center itself can't accommodate as many people as it should. The auditorium can hold only under 160 people, while the parking lot holds even fewer. Access via public transportation, while possible, is difficult.
Probably the most important factor in the decreased usage of the Center by the community are the geographic shifts. The Center is in a part of Chicago that used to be home to a very centralized Pilipino population. Immigrants used to live in this area when first arriving, then move out to the suburbs thirty miles away to raise a family. Now, these immigrants usually move to the suburbs straight away. Meanwhile, the generations of Pilipino Americans who were or are raised in the suburbs have no prior connection with the Center. Of that generation, those who do move to the city look for proximity to work and activity, and not for an exclusively Pilipino community (myself included).
While the Rizal Center does play an important role in the nearby community, year by year it loses its relevance with the up-and-coming Chicago Pilipino American generations. Abella recognizes this shift, and has a plan to save the Center. It surely won’t be a popular plan, but it may be the only one left available.
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By mamazilla on September 25, 2011 - 6:53am
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i really hope that the chicago pinoy community can get past their differences... as a child and teenager, i participated in many rizal center events as did many of my friends...
not all of us have moved away to the suburbs... those of us who have stayed in the city, and have children and want to pass on those same traditions and begin new memories at the rizal center always wonder why there isn't enough support for the center or enough programs hosted by the center... i live less than a mile away, my children attend a catholic school/church w/ a healthy filipino population.... i think there are enough people in the area to attend events at the rizal, but not enough programs running there or if there are - a failure of marketing/promotion of the programs/center...
as a child, i participated in MANY halloween parades there... also, my very first (and last) public piano recital was on the rizal stage during a christmas party... i played white christmas. badly. :)
as a teen (like MANY teens (city, suburban, filipino & non-filipino) in the late 80s, early 90s) i danced all night long at the EPIC dj'd house music parties. somewhat recently, the rizal hosted an old school house music night (an AWESOME idea) - and i would have gone if the price hadn't been too high (for me)...
i always felt part of the larger filipino community whenever we went to rizal. for a kid who was one of two pinoy kids in my grade school, it was reassuring /reaffirming to be in a room full of pinoy kids almost weekly.
anyway, i REALLY hope rizal center can stage a comeback... it's done so much good for us - i would also be open to volunteering/helping if needed...