Roundtable discussed Latino policy priorities for the coming year
This week, MALDEF, the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization, hosted its 2012 Latino State of the Union: the Fifth Annual Roundtable on Law, Policy and Civil Rights. Held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., this year’s event featured remarks from United States Secretary of Labor, Hilda L. Solis, and a keynote address by MALDEF President and General Counsel,Thomas A. Saenz. The event drew more than one hundred public officials, advocates and community leaders committed to ensuring that Latino community interests are national interests.
Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel, stated, “The Latino community faces significant challenges in working to shape a national policy agenda that incorporates our concerns and that will achieve a bright national future for all. Today’s lively discussion will help us to better understand and take on those challenges. We are grateful to all of those who participated in this step toward an improved national policy agenda.”
The discussion informed policy makers, advocates, leaders in the Latino community and a national audience on some of the upcoming legal and policy developments that will have the greatest impact on Latinos in the coming year, such as economic development and reproductive justice. The comprehensive program featured respected Latino leaders, including U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Mercedes Marquez; President and General Counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Juan Cartagena; Executive Director of the National Latino Institute for Reproductive Health, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas; and Professor Roberto Suro, Director of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California.
Juan Cartagena, President and General Counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDF, stated, “As Latinos enter this critically important election year our voices, our numbers, our votes and our buying power have to be leveraged to pierce this halo of near invisibility that shrouds us in the national discourse. Our nation’s largest minority has to be heard in order to secure the future of all Americans. Events like this national roundtable on Civil Rights, Law and Public Policy ensure that this dialogue continues and frames viable solutions to the challenges that Latinos face today.”
Professor Roberto Suro, Director of the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California, stated, “Latinos are a dynamic population, growing, changing and diverse. So too are their public policy concerns. MALDEF has been in the forefront of defining Latino agendas for many decades, and it continues to renew that mission as it did here today.”
Mercedes Marquez, Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, stated, “President Obama has charged us with helping communities move towards equity. HUD is seeking to help foster change by asking – what is it only the Federal government can do? By investing in communities and building their capacity to address neighborhood needs, HUD programs work every day to help build a bridge of opportunity to the middle class. Thanks to MALDEF for bringing together this diverse group to discuss how civil rights affect public policy decisions.”
Jessica González-Rojas, Executive Director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, stated, “There is urgency in this moment. Latinas are often the most impacted by the attacks on reproductive health and rights and the assaults on immigrant families. Now is the time to make our collective voices heard and stand up for the health, rights and dignity of Latinas.”
