Marianela Jordan's comfortable life was literally blown away at age 5 when a hurricane destroyed her family's home and modest restaurant in the Dominican Republic.
Her mother went to America to earn a living. Within a year, shortly before Christmas 1979, the family reunited at a relative's home in Freeport, New York. But life remained difficult.
Seeing her mother work on an assembly line for $103 a week while her father put in 16-hour days left Jordan indebted to their sacrifice, empathetic with the struggles of new immigrants, and determined to help.
After college, she worked at a foster care agency and at other nonprofits serving children. Today, as the head of Latino affairs for New York's Nassau County, Jordan assures that language and culture don't block immigrant access to needed programs.
She recently campaigned to become a Freeport trustee. Narrowly defeated, she plans to run again in two years.
"I didn't define myself as the Latino candidate. My message was, we're all part of the same community."
