Catalog ID:
ORH-006-0003
Creator:
Caldera-Durant, Yolanda
Archives Field 21:
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Scope & Content:
Yolanda Caldera-Durant
Vice President for Program and Community Engagement, Community Foundation of Greater New Haven
Yolanda Caldera-Durant was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut to first-generation Puerto Rican parents. Her mother, Maria, came from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, moving to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 15 to become a nanny for her cousin's children. She then moved to Harlem with her twin sister and brothers and worked various manufacturing jobs. Caldera-Durant's late father, José (d. 2019), moved from Ciales, Puerto Rico to Bridgeport, Connecticut, following relatives who'd moved to the Park City and spending the majority of his life working for General Electric. He met his eventual wife Maria through her brothers (Caldera-Durant could not recall how her maternal uncles knew her father already), bringing her to Bridgeport where they raised Yolanda and her older sister.
The Calderas first lived in the East Side, before moving to near Boston Avenue (by the former location of General Electric), and finally settling in the South End, where Maria still lives in the house the family purchased in 1985. Caldera-Durant recalls growing up around mostly other Puerto Ricans and African Americans, but also noticed the beginnings of demographic shifts, having attended school with Asian, Central American, South American, Dominican, and Mexican classmates. She graduated from Bassick High School in 1989, attending the University of Connecticut at the recommendation of her guidance counselor, where she graduated in December 1992 with a degree in Sociology.
Caldera-Durant spoke at length about the importance of her time at UCONN, including her journey of pursuing college as a first-generation college student from a working-class family. The university's Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC) was a major source of support for her, providing both the space and programming to connect with other Latinxs and communities of Color at the predominantly white campus. She recalls founding Lambda Theta Alpha, the campus's first Latina sorority, with seven other first-generation Latina classmates (most of whom were at least half Puerto Rican themselves).
Caldera-Durant also discussed her parents' respective experiences in Bridgeport, and the role faith played in their building community and belonging. She concluded with brief remarks about her current work in philanthropy in New Haven, and the interesting overlaps between both cities, marked by "a lot of similarities, and a lot of disparities."
Vice President for Program and Community Engagement, Community Foundation of Greater New Haven
Yolanda Caldera-Durant was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut to first-generation Puerto Rican parents. Her mother, Maria, came from Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, moving to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 15 to become a nanny for her cousin's children. She then moved to Harlem with her twin sister and brothers and worked various manufacturing jobs. Caldera-Durant's late father, José (d. 2019), moved from Ciales, Puerto Rico to Bridgeport, Connecticut, following relatives who'd moved to the Park City and spending the majority of his life working for General Electric. He met his eventual wife Maria through her brothers (Caldera-Durant could not recall how her maternal uncles knew her father already), bringing her to Bridgeport where they raised Yolanda and her older sister.
The Calderas first lived in the East Side, before moving to near Boston Avenue (by the former location of General Electric), and finally settling in the South End, where Maria still lives in the house the family purchased in 1985. Caldera-Durant recalls growing up around mostly other Puerto Ricans and African Americans, but also noticed the beginnings of demographic shifts, having attended school with Asian, Central American, South American, Dominican, and Mexican classmates. She graduated from Bassick High School in 1989, attending the University of Connecticut at the recommendation of her guidance counselor, where she graduated in December 1992 with a degree in Sociology.
Caldera-Durant spoke at length about the importance of her time at UCONN, including her journey of pursuing college as a first-generation college student from a working-class family. The university's Puerto Rican and Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC) was a major source of support for her, providing both the space and programming to connect with other Latinxs and communities of Color at the predominantly white campus. She recalls founding Lambda Theta Alpha, the campus's first Latina sorority, with seven other first-generation Latina classmates (most of whom were at least half Puerto Rican themselves).
Caldera-Durant also discussed her parents' respective experiences in Bridgeport, and the role faith played in their building community and belonging. She concluded with brief remarks about her current work in philanthropy in New Haven, and the interesting overlaps between both cities, marked by "a lot of similarities, and a lot of disparities."
Interviewer:
Interviewed by Amanda Rivera
Dates of Creation:
2023-11-15
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