Narrative profile by Isiah George

Juan Gomez lived in Puerto Rico for 10 years. Ended up going to the Dominican Republic for a year to live with his grandmother, Then moved back to Puerto Rico. Juan lived in New York City for 5-8 months and often traveled between Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and the U.S "by the time he was 16 he had moved 16 times" which made adjusting to life difficult. Graduated high school and joined the Marine Corp because of the uncertainty of completing college. Juan obtained a bachelor's degree at Assumption College in 1.5 years. He took summer courses to get his degree faster due to already having a child and needing to take care of his responsibilities. At a young age Juan started participating in Latino Leaders of the Future which was funded by the United Way. In 1989 there was an incident between a black young man and a Puerto Rican young man. Both men fought over a girl which escalated to the Puerto Rican young man stabbing the black young man with a pencil. The black young man died instantly. "It was a really tragic event for our city, it was traumatic and it was difficult. The politicians immediately had said that the Puerto Rican kids and black kids at south high there was racial tension". It was taken out of context in the public eye and Juan felt like the circumstances of poverty and racial diversity has been "misused". This tragic event was one of his main motivators getting him into politics. Mr. Gomez is president and CEO of Centro Las Americas, Worcester County's largest minority multi-service nonprofit in central Massachusetts. He took over the position in March 2007 after serving in a number of roles on the Board of Directors. Mr. Gomez has an Associate degree in Business Management from Quinsigamond Community College; a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Assumption College; and a graduate certificate in Human Service Management and a master's degree in Public Administration from Clark University.Mr. Gomez is an adjunct professor at Becker College in Worcester, Mass., teaching state and local government, and intercultural communications. He has served on the board of, and been involved in numerous civic, business and charitable organizations in Worcester and throughout Massachusetts. He is member of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, past President of the Board of Directors of the Latino Business Association of Worcester County, a member of the World Affairs Council, Worcester Chapter; Worcester Rotary Club, and former board member of the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce of Massachusetts. He served five-and-a-half years on the Worcester City Council, and was the vice chairman from January 2004 to January 2006. Juan Gomez is First hispanic in Worcester City Government. Felt like the government officials all looked completely different than the diverse communities they served.

Sources : LHPW video

Quinsigamond Community College Website