By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
August 29, 2015
Milwaukee, WI - On Friday, Ricardo Diaz, the executive director for the United Community Center (UCC) located in the Southside of Milwaukee announced that a new charter school has been named the UCC Acosta Middle School in honor of Dora and Israel "Shorty" Acosta who have a combined 75-years of working at the UCC. The school will open in the Fall of 2016. Israel is well known in the Hispanic community as former U.S. Olympic boxer in 1984 when he lost in a decision of 3-2 to Gold Medalist Paul Gonzalez in the Los Angeles boxoff finals when he was 31 years of age.
He later became an assistant coach for the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team.
Acosta has worked for the Milwaukee Housing Authority for the last 42 years, is a current boxing coach at the UCC and trained for more than three decades. Twenty-five years ago, Acosta married Dora who was the Dean of Students at the Bruce-Guadalupe Middle School, but has since retired. They have on child named Israel.
Acosta at the age of 16 arrived from Puerto Rico in 1971 and attended South Division High School. Acosta only spoke Spanish and H. Nelson Goodson, who at the time was a Junior bilingual student mentor at South was assigned to be Acosta's tutor while attending South.
Dora and Israel Acosta while working at UCC, they have made great contributions. They have proudly served as role models for students at the charter schools and teenagers that train at the UCC boxing center.
About 97 percent of students at the UCC charter schools are Hispanic and at least 80 percent come from low-income families, according to the UCC website.
Congrats to Dora and Israel "Shorty" Acosta!
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