ORLANDO, Fla. — As Ricardo Miranda walks down the hallway of the Orange County Administration Center, he is surrounded by bright paintings: parrots, the border collie Tsunami and a can of Cafe Bustelo.
“It’s beautiful to have this representation here in Orange County,” Miranda said. “To see my flag, that brings so much joy.”
The artwork is part of Orange County and the Hispanic Heritage Network of Orange County’s Hispanic Heritage Month display. This year’s theme is “Unidos Somos Más,” or “Together We Are More.”
“It’s an American game, but it’s so important to us Latinos because there’s so much representation,” Miranda said, referring to a painting of two baseball players surrounded by American flags that is in the display.
Miranda, an Orange County special events coordinator, helped put together displays inside the administration center, where community artwork, flags and traditional dresses from eight countries are on exhibit.
Miranda said it can serve as a connection to home for people who have not returned to their countries in years.
“For some people, this is a little piece of home that they have here in Orange County,” Miranda said. “Some people that haven’t been to their country in years, they get the opportunity to come here and see this, and it reminds them of their home.”
It’s a feeling he understands well; Miranda, from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, is among the thousands of Puerto Ricans who left the island for Florida shortly after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017. At the time, he was 23. He said his family lost power and water, and it was difficult to get gas, though their home remained structurally safe.
Miranda moved to Orlando to enroll at UCF.
“If you had told that kid that he was going to be living in Orlando and working for government, he would have said there’s no way,” he said.
Fernando Rivera, a sociology professor and director of UCF’s Puerto Rico Research Hub, said Puerto Ricans had already been leaving the island for economic opportunities, but Hurricane Maria added the element of climate migration.
“At that time, Florida, especially Central Florida, became sort of that immediate center of recovery for a lot of Puerto Ricans out here,” Rivera said.
Basic services remain a concern years after the hurricane, Rivera noted.
“It’s almost unacceptable that 10 years into this after the hurricane, after the funds were provided, we’re still talking about the basic issues and access to electricity, access to water, those essential services that should be provided,” Rivera said.
Yetzenia Negron, Orange County’s events and special programs manager, said she admires Miranda’s drive and his continued effort to represent Hispanic cultures.
“That’s something that I truly admire is his constant drive to continue to grow, to continue to develop himself as a leader and to learn as well,” Negron said.
Miranda said it feels surreal to think Hurricane Maria happened nearly a decade ago, but he also sees how it reshaped lives.
“I think it’s great to remember that some (lives) were changed for the better,” Miranda said.