CVHH provides ‘passport’ to education

Vidya Rao &
Serghino René

Imagine an evening of entertainment that included a voyage to Cambodia, Cape Verde, Spain, France, Tokyo and Egypt within a span of a few hours. Impossible? Tell that to the 600 or so attendees of last Saturday night’s Cape Verdean Helping Hands 3rd annual Gala. They were witnesses to an elaborately planned event simulating an airplane trip that began with airline tickets, “stewardesses” graciously pointing out the exits and a red carpet entrance fit for the most distinguished first class passengers.

The themed event, titled “Passport to the Future,” featured fashions and dances from around the world, as well as a multicultural cast of models and performers, held at Dorchester’s IBEW Local 103. It served as both a fundraiser for scholarship winner Tiffany Alemnon, a sixth grade student at Breed Middle School in Lynn, and as a celebration for CVHH. The organization and was recently granted nonprofit status, is on a mission to provide financial assistance to students from the Boston area for their pursuit of higher education.

“It’s about opening the door,” says Helena Teixeira, who co-founded CVHH with her son, Nicholas Rodrigues, in 2003. “We give [the student] a passport, and it’s up to them to do what they need and decide where they’re going to land.”

Teixeira and Rodrigues began CVHH after being inspired to open the door for 12- year-old Justin Barbosa, whose father killed his mother, sister and grandmother before turning the gun on himself. Teixeria and Rodrigues rallied the community, raising $30,000 to help the traumatized Brockton boy.

“We then decided that we wanted to help any kids who are trying to do something with their lives,” says Teixeira.

Since that time, the duo has raised over $90,000 just in private donations alone, and has also been able to secure corporate and foundation sponsorship from organizations such as such as EMC Corp., Pioneer Investments, McGlaughlin Chevorlet, the Mark Wahlberg Foundation and IBEW Local 103, which donated the space for Saturday’s event.

“We’re starting out as a small grassroots organization,” says Rodrigues. “But we are showing that we have the potential to be something big.”

The organization began working with youth of Cape Verdean descent, but has been extending its reach to include and support all young people in the community.

“It’s important to show young people that there are people of color in the community doing positive work,” explains Rodrigues, who is also president of the Black College Tour in Boston.

Alemnon, the most recent benefactor of their positive work, was chosen as this year’s Amilcar Cabral “I Am Because We Are” scholarship, awarded annually by CVHH to college-bound students. Alemnon, however, is only in sixth grade and years away from attending college.

“Normally we select a recipient from high school students, but we made an exception for Tiffany,” says Teixeira. “She is so smart and has been an ‘A’ honor roll student, but now she is struggling.”

She is struggling because at her tender age, Alemnon is suffering from brain cancer, and has had to endure 152 weeks of chemotherapy. With her family straining to cover medical bills, Alemnon was forced to put her education on the back burner.

That’s where CVHH stepped in.

“Tiffany wrote us a letter, telling us that despite everything, she is determined to finish school and go to college,” says Teixeira. “That is the type of dedication that we want to reward.”

The scholarship will provide yearly stipends of $1,000 for the next six years to be used for tutoring and other educational aides.

Teixeira and Rodrigues do the work they do not only to help students financially, but also to raise awareness in the community about the importance of an education and access to education for all.

“I’ve seen students crying in the halls because they don’t have enough money to buy books,” recounts Teixeira, who has worked in the housing department of Boston College for over 20 years. “Other students have even had to drop out because of money.”

“It is education that lifts people out of the state of disenfranchisement,” says Rodrigues, who is an aspiring politician. “Do we want to be a community that tells our people that only some of them can have that opportunity?”