08/13/2026
The community of Loisaida is mourning the passing of life-long Puerto Rican community organizer Carlos "Chino" García.
We are grateful to see his extraordinary life and legacy recognized in this obituary by the The New York Times documenting his transformation from a young Puerto Rican growing up in New York into one of the Lower East Side’s most consequential grassroots community organizers.
For those of us in Loisaida, Chino’s story is inseparable from the history of the neighborhood itself. Chino famously co-founded CHARAS/El Bohío and helped transform the former P.S. 64 into a thriving cultural and community center. Across more than six decades, his work advanced tenant organizing, community-controlled housing, neighborhood gardens, environmental initiatives, education, job training, and the arts.
But Chino’s greatest legacy cannot be contained in any one building or institution. It lives in the generations of people he taught to believe that communities have the power to organize, reclaim, create, and determine their own futures.
Our deepest condolences to Chino's family and friends. Chino Presente!
We encourage our community to read and share this remembrance of a remarkable Puerto Rican New Yorker whose work helped shape Loisaida for generations.
He led a Puerto Rican group known as Charas in turning a crumbling public school into a community center, rehabilitating a desolate slice of New York.
