Honoring the contribution of the Puerto Rican families to the development of the United States of America, was given to people of the City of Hartford and the State of Connecticut by the internationally renowned Puerto Rican sculptor José Buscaglia-Guillermety.The monument d

epicts the migration of Puerto Rican families to the USA. At the dedication on September 23, 2009, Luis C. Cabán, then Executive Director, SINA and currently Chairman of the NPRDM, recognized the visionary who came up with the idea for the monument, Mildred Torres Soto. “We will be eternally thankful for her leadership”. (Source: Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance – SINA https://sinainc.org/monument-prfamily/)

Mildred Torres Soto was the first Latina to serve on Hartford’s City Council. She received an honorary doctorate degree from Trinity College after her passing in 1998, which was the first time in its 175 year history that they conferred a degree to anyone postmortem.

Ms. Torres Soto came to Hartford as a young person from Puerto Rico. Her first job was sewing tobacco leaves in Windsor. She graduated from Hartford Public High School. (Source: Hartford Public Library – https://hplct.libguides.com/changemakers/torres)