Hispanics Achieving and Celebrating Excellence (HACE)

HACE works to raise community awareness of the richness of the Hispanic culture, as well as Worcester and Southbridge Hispanic youth accomplishments by:

• Encouraging youth to focus on education and take positive steps to live whole and successful lives
• Recognizing achievements of young people of Hispanic heritage in such areas as academics, arts, athletics, community service, leadership, and political/civic engagement
• Providing positive role models through inspirational speakers and exposure to community leaders who participate and support the efforts of the H.A.C.E. Committee

Ms. Paulino provides community leadership, preservation of Latino culture, and mental health care, all through one medium: DANCE. A dancer of 20 years, Massy has trained in ballet, flamenco, Latin jazz, modern and Folkloric Latin dance as well as psychology and social work. Her goal is to elevate the Latinx community through education and the arts. In 2011 Paulino took over as director of Ritmos Dance Company, where she had been a long-time student and was teaching dance starting at age 16. Paulino believes that dance, cultural equity and arts are crucial to a community and its people’s identity. Ms. Paulino is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and registered-Dance/Movement therapist, and is passionate about dance as a mental health care tool. Her work has earned recognition from Latin Dollars for Scholars, Amplify Latinx, the City of Worcester, and the state. Beyond that, she is a deeply respected champion of Worcester’s Latinx community, which makes up roughly a quarter of the city’s population.