• 1956: Opening of Migration Office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in Boston. This Office facilitates the contracting of Puerto Ricans by farmers and factory owners in Massachusetts. The Office also helps with travel, transport, and breach-of-contract issues. The Migration Office often collaborated with the Massachusetts Department of Employment Services in recruiting Puerto Rican workers. The first branch of the Migration Office was opened in New York City in 1948.
• 1957: The Cardinal Cushing Center for the Spanish-Speaking, operated by the Catholic Church, opens in the South End. The Center provides social, employment, and religious services to the Puerto Rican community. The Center latter changed its name to "El Centro del Cardinal," as it is currently known.
• 1967: The first summer Festival PuertorriqueÒo (Puerto Rican Festival) is organized in Blackstone Park in the South End. The yearly celebration of Puerto Rican culture and history draws thousands of visitors each summer. The current festival has been moved to Franklin Park.
• 1968: Alex RodrÌguez is defeated in a run for State Representative for the South End. He is the first Puerto Rican and Latino/a in Boston to run for elected office. APCROSS (Association Pro Constitutional Rights of the Spanish Speaking) is formed in the South End by Puerto Rican and Latino/a activists in response to neglect shown by ABCD (Action for Boston Community Development) regarding issues affecting the Puerto Rican community.
• 1968-1973: South End residents oppose the development and re-location plans of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for Parcel 19. The Puerto Rican community developed an agency Inquilinos Boricuas en AcciÛn (IBA) that administered Villa Victoria (Victory Village) an 844 housing and commercial unit complex. Villa Victoria also includes the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center.
• 1969: PRESS (Puerto Rican Entering and Settling Services) is founded. PRESS welcomes Puerto Rican and other Latino/a travelers arriving at Logan Airport and helps with family, employment and other social service matters.
• 1970: Puerto Rican community leaders help to secure the approval of the Transitional Bilingual Education Law in Massachusetts. Massachusetts becomes one of the first states to require bilingual education in the Nation. The law was in part a reaction to the publication of the report, The Way We Go to School. The report shows that 48% of Latino/a school-age children were not enrolled in Boston's schools.
• 1971: The Rafael Hern·ndez Bilingual Elementary School opens. The school is named after one of Puerto Rico's most famous poets and composers. The New England Farmworkers Council (NEFC) is incorporated. The NEFC's mission is to work with and serve the needs of Puerto Rican migrant farm workers in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
• 1973: The Blackstone Park Riots occur during and after the celebration of the Festival PuertorriqueÒo on July 16th-18th. About twenty-seven persons are injured, and many more are arrested. The first Festival Betances, dedicated to celebrating Puerto Rican heritage and culture, is organized at Villa Victoria in the South End. The annual summer festival is now a tradition among New England's Latino/a community. Con Salsa, a program dedicated to salsa music and Latin jazz airs on WBUR. The show, which currently airs on weekends, was conceptualized and hosted by JosÈ MassÛ, a Puerto Rican community leader.
• 1976: Puerto Rican activists and other feminist leaders create Casa Myrna V·zquez, a multicultural shelter for abused women. The center is named after a Puerto Rican actress.
• 1978: El ComitÈ Latino de Homosexuales y Lesbianas de Boston (Boston's Gay and Lesbian Latino Committee) is created by Puerto Rican and Latino/a activists to promote gay and lesbian rights in Boston.
• 1980: The United States Census lists 18,899 Puerto Ricans living in Boston.
• 1988: Nelson Merced becomes the State Representative for the 5th Suffolk district (Dudley Square & North Dorchester). Merced is first Puerto Rican and Latino/a elected to State-wide office in Massachusetts. He served in the State House until 1992.
• 1989: Puerto Rican academics and community leaders play a key role in the foundation of the Mauricio GastÛn Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The Mauricio GastÛn Institute is the most important Latino/a research center in New England.
• 1990: United States Census lists 25,767 Puerto Ricans living in Boston.
• 1996: FÈlix Arroyo and Edwin MelÈndez are selected by Mayor Thomas Menino to serve on the Boston School Committee. Arroyo had run, unsuccessfully, for the school committee in 1981 and 1983.
• 1998: Alex RodrÌguez becomes the first Puerto Rican and Latino/a to run in a primary for the United States Congress in Massachusetts (8th district). His bid for the Democratic Party nomination was unsuccessful.

  See 1850-1949