Worcester is one of the most diverse cities in Massachusetts, home to many people of different nationalities and cultures from around the world. Beginning in the 1950s, Puerto Ricans, as U.S. citizens, settled in Worcester in increasing numbers in search of job opportunities and a more family-friendly urban setting than New York or other major metropolises. They were joined in the 1960s by a small but significant group of immigrants from Cuba. Over the last four decades, this original core community of Spanish-speakers has expanded with successive waves of immigrants and refugees from the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and other parts of Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and other South American countries. The Spanish-speaking and Hispanic-heritage community today makes up over a fifth of the city’s population. They all have their own individual reasons and experiences for wanting to move to Worcester and raise their families here. Despite diverse regional ways of speaking Spanish and expressing their cultural roots, they share a similar desire for a better life for themselves and their loved ones. In this exhibit you will be able to experience some of the journeys that each immigrant group has taken and some of the ways they have shaped, and have been shaped by, the city they call home. (Narrative by Samantha Vargas, Holy Cross ´22)