CLEVELAND — Jose Colon and Anthony Alto haven't seen each other in person in awhile. Like so many have experienced, the pandemic has made socializing very difficult over the past few months.
They first met through The Young Latino Network an organization that gives young professionals in the Latino community the opportunity to come together, network, mentor and volunteer.
Both have gone on to serve not only the Latino community, but the Northeast Ohio community at large.
Jose, a native of Puerto Rico, is a financial services manager for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress.
"I provide education on finances, teach financial empowerment, do housing counseling, financial counseling and coaching. Specifically to the Hispanic community because I can provide the coaching in both English and Spanish. One of the things I'm very adamant about is that we need minorities need to stay together so I try to be as resourceful as I can to be helpful to all communities," Colon explained.
Anthony is a law student at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, getting ready to take the bar exam. He says he wants to ensure everyone has access to legal protection. He is equally as passionate about voting rights as part of his job at Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
"We try our hardest to ensure that the voters are educated and understand what they need to do and ensure that everybody has fair and equitable access to the ballot," Alto said.
Jose and Anthony have a few other things in common - including their love for Cleveland Indians Baseball - especially as the Tribe takes on the Yankees in the playoffs.
"I'm always gonna say we should make it all the way to the World Series," Alto said.
Colon wholeheartedly agrees.
"We need a little bit of uh of a spirit riser you know with everything going on in the world," he said.
Well 3News, along with the Cleveland Indians, wanted to raise these fans' spirits as well - with some signed merchandise and tickets to a 2021 game. Go Tribe!