i'm ilia garcia and i'm walter perez. tonight on visions 2015 (cheers) the first latin american pope visits philadelphia. we take a look at his impact. (singing) from a congregation of followers to a center city kitchen with big plans. nat empinadas "culture" is a big word around the philadelphia eagles. see how the hispanic culture is influencing the eagles locker room. touchdown eagles plus the largest public arts exhibition in philadelphia history takes on some important issues. it's a special visions 2015 celebrating hispanic heritage month. hello and welcome to visions m walter perez. and i'm ilia garcia you usually see ilia on our sister station, univision. we're happy to have her join us for tonight's show. i'm happy to be here with you, walter, celebrating hispanic

heritage. we are at the church of st. patrick in norristown, pennsylvania. a parish that is nearly 200 years old. they are one of many congregations in the philadelphia area eagerly anticipating the arrival of pope francis. but this parish has a special connection to the pontiff. i think it's wonderful that he's coming especially for this community (singing) the church of st. patrick in norristown has always been an immigrant congregation. this was an irish parish built by irish immigrants. i saw a change within the '90's the place exploded with mexican immigrants. with more than 2500 members nearly 85 percent are latino. they come as families . they work together . they live together. they pray together but it wasn't always this way. when i first came to the parish, only the first few pews would be filled. now 20 years later, it has been a huge difference with three spanish language masses, the church celebrates the cutlure and the customs of its parishioners. amen (applause) feliz compleanos mexicans as a community, they're always very festive. we bring that same attitude to the church to worship and have fun at the same time

a lot of clapping a lot of singing a lot of you know cheering (singing) and in a way it makes you feel like you're at home that energy is producing new members each week. all these traditions come along with the people who come and we celebrate them the church has become a central figure in the community, providing the back drop to celebrate mexico's independence day. the spanish community has gotten a lot bigger, it's like another part of your family when you come to church, you have people you know for 10 years, 15 years there's more trust in the community, like church is where everything starts and now this church of hispanic immigrants has the opportunity of a lifetime to see pope francis in person, the first latin american pontiff. there's more of a connection there. i can connect with his values and his ways of teaching. it's a cultural connection he lived in latin america, and he knows the situation of many of the immigrants a lot of the people in my congregation will go down it's like our super bowl, as our father would say, it's very exciting for our community, you

know, and it kind of brings us together, i would say father gus has tickets for the event, but transportation might be a little trickier, but for selenia nad, many members of the parish, they will find a way to see pope francis. we're willing to walk there to be able to see him if you're wondering, it's about a 15 mile walk from norristown to the ben franklin parkway. but that is not an uncommon pilgrimage in mexico, so i'm sure selenia won't be the only one making a trek to the city. while the pope inspires hope in so many, he also gets the business world enthused. the city is estimating more than 2 million visitors for the weekend's festivities with a huge impact expected on the local economy. pope francis is big business. varsovia fernandez is the ceo of the greater philadelphia hispanic chamber of commerce and the only hispanic on the board of directors for the world meeting of families. she's excited for the impact of the pope's first visit to philadelphia since 1979.

this was an incredible experience for me to experience the church first hand, which is the biggest thing in the catholic church . he is someone we can relate to and the fact that he speaks spanish is amazing. and she wants the world meeting of families to feel the love from the regions hispanic population too. and a group of latinos came together and said let's start a papal fund, donate $5 at a time. it is not very often when we have an event of this magnitude where you are able to contribute and be part of it. the rosaries . these are doing tremendous right now. there will be a few companies from the hispanic chamber that will be making money from the pope's visit . like luis liceaga. president and ceo of impact dimensions. his merchandizing company opened popeswag.com, an online store and retail shops selling over 50 unique items celebrating the pope's visit to philadelphia. we have two locations for people to purchase our items, at a kiosk in cherry hill mall and a pop-up store at the comcast center. the popular products range from the more religious. so ilia , out of the prayer cards, this is the number one seller.

we feel because it has a cross already imbedded in it. to the random we have the bobblehead. he's a joyful pope . yes . he's very happy. happy to be in philadelphia in a couple weeks. and from the cuddly, to coffee cups! i see . there's something for every "fan" of pope francis . along with retail sales, they also did big business directly with the world meeting of famlies' conference. actually the largest order for me this year, came from the world meeting of families . the program kits, 17,500 pieces of nine different items. wow. i am extremely proud pope gear will be selling like crazy with a projected impact of $400 million on the local economy should be quite a few of these flying around. lots of fun mementos for people to take with them along with the poep's inspiring message. there is one woman in center city hoping that pope francis himself will try one of her special creations dann cuellar shares her story we hand made this, this morning jezabel careaga is the chef and owner of gavin's cafe at 26th and pine streets. but, like

pope francis, she was born and raised in argentina. this is what we used to do as kids. and when the pope visits her adopted city, she wants to treat him to the flavors of home. he has to have breakfast. he has to have lunch jezabel has been cooking since she was a little girl. in argentina i would say, we are always surrounded by family. and empanadas are always a part of the gathering. you're coming to someone else's home and you're just picking up empanadas everywhere you go, you have empanadas. at her fitler square cafe, she makes her empanadas from scratch every day in traditional argentinian flavors like ham and cheese, spinach and spicy beef with raisins. they're warm. they're delicious. it's like a little piece of heaven for me she also makes alfajores this is perfect consistency traditional argentinian shortbread cookies stuffed with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut it's creamy from the dulce de leche and then at the end you get a punch of coconut. here we go. growing up in argentina, jezabel always dreamed of

living in the northeastern united states. i guess we grew up watching too much home alone, laughs, in 2009, she was offered the opportunity to come to philadelphia and open gavin's. as the only argentinian baker in the city, she's been tweeting the pope and even wrote him a letter. telling him where i come from, and how it would be my biggest honor to serve him. her family is coming from argentina for the pope's visit. and she says her parents, strong catholics, are beyond proud that the pope is a fellow argentinian. and if i get to feed pope francis somehow, they will be so proud it's the only argentinian restaurant in philadelphia, so if the pope is looking for some home cooking? gavin's is the place to go. but it's not the only restaurant serving authentic hispanic food around philly. we tracked down everything from peruvian to mexican across the city and in the suburbs. it's a family affair at oasis mexican grill in collingswood. it's my mom, my dad, my sister. and they're serving up authentic mexican cuisine. my parents are the cooks so the

food is always consistent. everything is made to order so everything is always fresh. you'll need a healthy appetite for the nacho festival it's basically a saute with jalapeno uh tomatoes, onion, and top it off with turizo on the top and sour cream entrees include dishes like the chiles rellenos they're covered in wahaka cheese inside and um the sauce is like tomato sauce you can actually order it spicy if you'd like there's a variety of mexican staples, three different enchiladas and four types of burritos. it's very delicious the restaurant has quickly become a neighborhood favorite. they're always happy with the service and the food which is very important to me. it's a really close community next we head to nora's on south street. we quit our jobs, it was a little bit scary. husband and wife duo luis lorenzo and nora portugal wanted to follow their passion for food it was our first time uh, working on our, on our own. we both decided to start with a cart. they started selling their tacos on penn's campus and the business took off. t was just the two of us, so we both did everything.

we had a great response after justeight months they were able to open noras, a brick and mortor taqueria he always told me since the beginning when he tried my food that he's gonna build a place for me to cook, and i always laughed cuz i was like, yeah, sure she's the best chef ever. luis's mexican background and nora's peruvian descent are evident in the mouthwatering tacos, like the al pastor. its marinated pork and pineapple. it's really popular now. and the carne asada it's the grilled steak taco. for authentic peruvian food. inka wall in upper darby has just what you're looking for. i always want to continue my culture show people what is peru about the name inka wall is a tribute to ownere beatrice loayza's family history. inka is in memory of our ancestors and the wall because there's so many you know inka walls in peru beatrice makes all the food from scratch and is known for her rotisserie chicken, done the peruvian way.

it takes 24 hour process. i do it the way it's supposed to another favorite is the al dobo. it's made out of pork and then it sits overnight on cee-cha. they are like wow i never tasted something like this! now i'm hungry just in time for our first break, you can grab a snack. here's what's coming up on visions 2015. a city art project is transforming neighborhoods with the largest public art exhibition in city history. we'll meet a few of the artists making these murals happen. but first the philadelphia eagles are reaching a whole new audience. we'll introduce the man behind the mic of their spanish play-by-play that's next on visions 2015.

our elebration of hispanic heritage month. i'm walter perez. and i'm ilia garcia. pope francis's visit to philadelphia has certainly grabbed the attention of the city but nothng overshadows the philadelphia eagles in this town it is football season and hopes are high for chip kelly's revamped squad in 2015

and while the fan base has always been strong. it has grown more diverse over the last few years touchdown mark sanchez that's the voice of the philadelphia eagles en espanol, rickie ricardo, who calls the plays every game for the bird's spanish speaking audience. ricky has been in the game for over 30 years and seen the nfl's fan base spread into hispanic culture. the love for nfl football has been growing around south and central america for years. and now the birds are spreading their wings into latin america with key playmakers on the roster for the first time we've got a little spanish heritage flavor on both sides of the ball. linebacker kiko alonso 's mom was born in colombia, his dad hails from cuba and backup quarterback mark sanchez is a california native of mexican decent. we're creating a completely separate fan base that is following these two guys and the enthusiasm is at an incredibly high level. kiko's openness to speak both spanish and english to his fans surprised even rickie. oh it's never happened.

fans can totally relate to kiko. communicating directly to a new audience the eagles are scoring new fans. after watching mark sanchez be so active as a starter for some many games, it kind of snowballs and now kiko alaso, that is a guy that really, really beginning a lot of interest to columbia where his mom is from but our big spanish fan base here. ricky is used to seeing other franchises break into the latin and south america like the cowboys and even pittsburg. they have a 30 station radio network for both the cowboys and steelers for all teams. you think pittsburg. pittsburg was one of the first teams that really penetrated mexico, south america. and now the eagles radio network is crossing borders with the help of its familiar team name. the name eagles in spanish, aguilas, is a very proud name especially in mexico. and a new roster of stars, including the man calling the action, are speaking directly to spanish speaking fans. radio call from eagles spanish radio network

there is a little bit of everything in philadelphia and there really really clinging to this football team to bring us some pride and some joy this winter. i would love to hear rickie's call of a super bowl he has been the broadcaster for the phillies and yankees and called a couple world series championships so here's hoping he brings a little luck to the eagles this season. stick around we've got more ahead on visions 2015. pedro ramos has already made a positive impact in the city of philadelphia. see how his latest role could be a gamechanger for the local community that's coming up on visions 2015.

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2015 our celebration of hispanic heritage. w are at the church of st patrick in norristown, pennsylvania this church has been home to immigrants since it formed nearly 200 years ago and even the statues that decorate the sanctuary are from outside the country this statue of our lady of guadalupe and juan diego came from mexico art is a great way to bring people together whether it's here at church or on the streets of philadelphia. in the shadow of william penn, in the courtyard of city hall,

you'll find the story of maria, an undocumented mexican mother of five. her husband, was caught at the border and will be deported back to mexico. the ground-based mural was created by michelle ortiz. one of 14 artists from around the world participating in open source, the largest outdoor art exhibition in the city's history. they're all over the city, some more visible then others each artist partnered with a community group to highlight an issue of relevance to the city, from restorative justice to contemporary art. to immigration and deportation. so the compass represents finding your direction michelle's piece is called separated families and she worked with juntos to share the struggles of five undocumented immigrants living in philadelphia. it has a huge impact. when you have single parent households having to raise children, mothers having to figure out how to put food on the table after somebody has been deported . in addition to the arts project, juntos organized a march, 100 women walking 100 miles to washington, dc, arriving on tuesday, the same

day as pope francis. and they hope to get the pontiff's ear. we need to keep this issue at the forefront because people are dying, and unless we tell these stories, then people don't' think it's real michelle hopes her works presented on such a public platform, will cause people to think more deeply . so it's in a sense moving beyond a pretty picture and ask why immigrants wouldaver a new life in the city of brotherly love. from the stories i've collected, philadelphia is a city of opportunity. it's a city where they can thrive. open source events run throughout the month of october. it's a beautiful way to engage the city of philadelphia. and while these professional artists are painting the town a local group is using the art of music to reach at risk youth in the latin american community. amla is a non-profit organization whose goal is to promote, increase, and develop the understanding of latin american culture through music education. amla sees itself both as a preserver of culture and a

supporter of youth. they provide opportunities to learn all kinds of instruments that range from your typical guitar and piano, to the congas and timbales instead of spending or i should say wasting their time on the streets running around doing negative things, theyre here in the school practicing . we encourage them, whatever lessons we use here in the school of music, can be applied to other classes as well since opening the school in 2006, they have educated hundreds of students of all ages we don't expect everyone going to be a professional musician because were a community school um and in this neighborhood uh having an alternative to what the neighborhood might offer you on a day to day basis is important. it's just a lot of children here that just need something positive to do so it means everything to me when they come instructor richard tucker says that students are exceptionally hardworking and eager to learn, like 13 year old ashley i love music, i love the way it makes me feel, i can express myself and i get to learn new things every day. shes a rockstar! they also have a youth latin jazz ensemble that performs at different venues around the

city. we also understand its important to provide you an outlets for creative expression that may allow you to engage your culture in a more positive way there's even an adult ensemble that alumni are a part of. they say it allows them to give back to the people who inspired them most they changed my life for the better definitely. it's a skill that's given me many opportunities. and um just meeting a whole bunch of people that i otherwise wouldn't had the opportunity had i not been here, not been here at amla. with a new building in the works to accommodate the rapidly growing school, they hope to continue their positive impact in the latino community it helps to move onto a road that leads to education , they're starting to move into a career track and future that may not have been available to them before us. the power of music. it can entertain and in this case, inspire. the written word is another way to engage an audience. and one magazine has focused their content on the latin american community. in chester county, the hispanic population is the fastest growing minority. now about uh 6.5% of our total population and the growing challenge is to make that community aware of the county's amenities. one of the difficulties is just

getting out of the word of the many services that we have here that's where miguel alban comes in, founder of a marketing firm, the hispanic approach. our mission is to bridge the gap between corporate america and the hispanic market in order to get the message out miguel created hola chester county magazine. companies will buy advertising. any business or non-profit could be on the magazine. miguel believed the county needed an outlet for industries to meet the hispanic buyers. you need to reach out to the latino community if you want to increase your business. business owners can write on various topics from legal issues to healthy matters. it's more education. tell the community what you do and how you do it and who you are. mora family dentistry in malvern has contributed monthly. hola diana! i wrote already three articles. one of them is about drinking sodas, how that can affect the teeth. through hola, more latinos became aware of their dental

services. we had a lot of phone calls from uh prospective patients and chester county commissioner farrell believes the magazine is an important necessity. it gives us an avenue to communicate more directly with the hispanic population and to help build a lifestyle. the magazine was just a way to give back to the community. the magazine is produced monthly, and it's free. sounds like a good deal. stay with us. we've got more visions 2015 straight ahead. okay. so everyone is saying, "hey! you gotta get fios!" but why? why fios? well fios is a 100 percent fiber optic network,

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welcome back to visions 2015 celebrating hispanic heritage. i'm ilia garcia. and i'm walter perez. the hispanic population nearly doubled in the greater philadelphia area between 2000 and 2010 according to the u.s. census. and that population is being served well by organizations like the hispanic chamber of commerce and concilio. good afternoon concilio buenas tardes we provide an array of social services including foster care, adoptions, and youth summer camp programming, health prevention classes and housing but they also keep their cultural heritage alive as the creators of some of the largest hispanic-themed events in the

city. the hispanic fiesta and the puerto rican day parade. 6abc is the proud broadcast partner of the parade with concilio for close to 30 years. its an opportunity for us to showcase what we've brought to the city of brotherly love the hispanic chamber promotes economic growth within the community. what we do here at the chamber is look to strengthen the economic growth of the hispanic community. we do that by supporting hispanic businesses by advocating for them, promoting them and developing them through education. with over nineteen thousand hispanic-owned businesses in the region membership to the chamber offers an array of business development training. we show them how to gain access to capital and getting them minority certified. and mentoring the next generation of latino-business owners and professionals is a top priority. this is a unique program where we take up and coming latino professionals and pair them up with corporate executives. my name is pedro ramos and i'm the president and ceo of the philadelphia foundation. ramos is the first latino appointed to head this legendary foundation, which today gives over 20 million dollars a year to hundreds of regional non-profits through grants and scholarships. over the years i've come to know the philadelphia foundation and it's leadership

in the community was very important. during the civil rights era ramos was born and raised in north philadelphia . my parents came from puerto rico with 2nd and 6th grade educations i had dreams of becoming a lawyer and had the chance to become a lawyer. he's worked in academics and held the office of city solicitor and managing director for the city of philadelphia. government affects everybody and it's really important to be engaged now he brings that leadership to the non-profit sector looking to grow the good works put forth by the philadelphia foundation. we want to make sure we're always going to be here for the community. that's going to do it for us. we want to thank the church of st. patrick here in norristown for having us. and thank you ilia for joining me to host the show this year. my pleasure. it was a lot of fun. for more info on any of the stories you've seen on visions tonight you can go to 6abc.com. thanks for watching! goodnight everyone!

- [voiceover] coming up next on small town, big deal - jann and i make a fashion statement in the bogs. - these were not made to make a girl look good. i'm just saying. - and we test our skills at cranberry harvesting - ok, jann, let's see how you do! - and then we go from the bogs to the kitchen. and later, i'm working for tips. hey ladies, you all need some fresh biscuits? (country guitar music) welcome to small town, big deal - [voiceover] we've traveled across the country and firmly believe that the people in small towns are the hands that keep america strong. - [voiceover] so join us, rodney miller - [voiceover] and jann carl - [voiceover} as we show you the great things these people do on small town, big deal welcome to small town, big deal. i'm rodney miller - and i'm jann carl. - [rodney] and we're in carver, massachusetts, population 11,500. it's about an hour south of boston.