User:Melanie Pitts Martinez

New York Belizean Committee, Inc.

The New York Belizean Committee, Inc. (NYBC, Inc.) is a Not for Profit Corporation based in New York. Its work is overseen by a Board of Directors and assisted by four committees: Facilities, Social, Public Relations and Carnival.

The Committee seeks to:

•	Assist in strengthening the visibility and influence of the Belizean Community in New York;

•	Encourage young persons and others to develop positive and vision driven attitudes;

•	Enhance the sense of Belizeans and the Caribbean Community’s identity of persons connected with Belize;

•	Facilitate the New York Belizean Community’s interactions with other immigrant communities and with the New York Community at large.

•	Project the image of Belize and Belizeans in New York, particularly through public relation activities and collaboration with other Belizean organizations in New York and elsewhere.

A foundation of this mission is spreading the word about Belize and its Culture. One facet of this Committee’s participation is “playing mas” in the annual West Indian Labor Day Parade in Brooklyn under the name “Festibel.”

What is FESTIBEL? It is the name given to the effort of New York’s Belizean Community to participate in the annual costume carnival called the West Indian Labor Day Parade on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. The name is based on the words “Festival” and “Belize.”

In 2003 “Festibel” along with its St. Vincentian partner, “Mas Production Unlimited,” paraded under the theme “MAYA” which was fully dedicated to the memory of NYBC, Inc. Founder and late President, Hon. Judge Edward A. Laing, Jr.

That year, for the first time, the band took first place in the category of medium bands.