Hispanic Of The Year Award Announced In West Haven

Written by Michael P. Walsh

WEST HAVEN, CT — Jeffrey Moreno will be the latest resident to receive the city’s Hispanic American of the Year award at the sixth annual Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Mayor Dorinda Borer announced.

Borer and the West Haven Hispanic American of the Year Alumni Committee will honor Moreno, the grandson of a Puerto Rican-born grandmother, based on his community commitment and cultural pride.

The committee bestows the award annually on a Hispanic resident who epitomizes service in West Haven’s thriving Hispanic community.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, will be held at noon Friday, Oct. 11, at City Hall, 355 Main St.

“It feels good to be named West Haven’s Hispanic American of the Year,” said a humble Moreno, who has served on the city’s Board of Ethics, including a stint as vice chairman, since 2019. “To be honored by the city and the community as a whole is motivating and uplifting.”

Moreno is a project manager for the city of New Haven and has worked for the Elm City since 2014. He previously was an operations manager for 12 years at ADT Security Services in Wallingford.

Moreno, 43, will celebrate his Puerto Rican ancestry with dozens of loved ones, friends and city officials, along with an array of dignitaries and descendants of folks from Puerto Rico and Latin America.

Committee members and West Haven officials led by Borer will escort Moreno to the steps of City Hall for his special recognition. A Latin-flavored lunch will follow.

West Haven’s diversity is its strength, Borer said, and Moreno is a testament to the hope and promise of America.

“I am delighted to announce Jeffrey Moreno as our 2024 Hispanic American of the Year,” Borer said. “His dedicated service to our city and the Hispanic American community is proof that the American dream is alive and well.”

Committee member Sammy Rivera, the city’s 2021 Hispanic American of the Year, said, “Please join Mayor Dorinda Borer and the West Haven Hispanic American of the Year Alumni Committee as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and recognize this year’s Hispanic American of the Year recipient, Jeffrey Moreno.”

In observance of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs through Oct. 15, West Haven recognizes the important legacy of Hispanic Americans and the inspiring contributions they have made to the culture and history of the United States.

Hispanics have had a profound and positive influence on the civic and cultural life of America through their strong commitment to faith and family, hard work and public service. They have enhanced and shaped the national character with centuries-old traditions that reflect the multiethnic and multicultural customs of their community.

Hispanic Heritage Month, which traces its roots to 1968, begins each year on Sept. 15, the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Mexico and Chile also celebrate their independence days during that period.

The term Hispanic refers to Puerto Rican, South American or Central American, and other Spanish cultures or origins regardless of race. On the 2020 census form, people of Spanish, Hispanic or Latino origins could identify themselves as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or “another Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.”

Borer said Moreno personifies the noble qualities of serving his vibrant community and carrying on the proud traditions of Puerto Rico — as well as the rich tradition of Puerto Ricans in public service.

Shortly after moving to West Haven in 2017, Moreno got involved in his new community, with the goal of impacting as many lives as possible through service.

As a member of the West Haven Community Development Administration’s Citizen Advisory Committee since 2019, he has helped oversee the city’s federal Community Development Block Grant application process for earmarking funding for local organizations that serve low-to-moderate-income residents.

Borer praised the civic-minded Moreno, whom she called a man of “distinguished service,” for his devotion to the city and its robust Hispanic community.

Moreno is the 5th District chairman of the city’s Democratic Town Committee and was recently appointed to Borer’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Arts, Culture and Tourism to support arts investments in the community, to create a strategy for promoting tourism in West Haven, and to help coordinate the city’s new microgrant arts program.

He also serves on the board of directors of Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven.

At the City Hall event, Borer will present him with a Puerto Rican flag and a mayoral citation for his good works.

Moreno will also receive an embroidered “Hispanic American of the Year 2024” jacket from Borer and a General Assembly citation from West Haven’s delegation.

The cultural event will include remarks by Rick Spreyer, Borer’s chief of staff and the master of ceremonies. It will also include the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Puerto Rican national anthem, “La Borinqueña,” followed by remarks by Borer.

Moreno was born in New Haven to Wanda Moreno, a native of the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

His maternal grandmother hailed from the town of Cataño on the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico, bordering the San Juan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Moreno was raised by his mother and his stepfather, Domingo Jimenez Jr., with his younger half sister, Chemique Jimenez, on Lines Street in New Haven’s Hill neighborhood.

He graduated in 1998 from New Haven’s High School in the Community, where he served as student government and class president.

Moreno’s mother is a longtime special education teacher and consultant for New Haven Public Schools. His stepfather worked at Marlin Firearms in North Haven for three decades and is now retired.

Moreno earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Southern Connecticut State University in 2003 and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Albertus Magnus College in 2008.

He and his wife of two years, the former Shirly Jimenez-Reyes, live in Allingtown.