Earlier this week, the White House held the first ever Hispanic Public Policy Conference that brought together Latino leaders from across the nation with administration officials to discuss solutions to the most critical issues facing the Hispanic community.
For two days, 160 attendees met face to face with President Obama’s administration over an agenda that included education, jobs, civil rights, health, immigration, and the environment.
“We are grateful that the President and other key White House officials were able to meet with NHLA members to discuss the role of the nation’s largest minority population during this important period of economic recovery,” Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez, chair of National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, said. “We were pleased to hear that the President will not put important education, health and safety net programs in jeopardy during budget negotiations.”
The NHLA first recommended the White House meet with its members.
Michael Toledo, executive director of the Daniel Torres Hispanic Center in Reading, Penn., was among the attendees and says he pressed officials on improving childhood literacy and civic engagement among Latinos.
“I wanted to talk to individuals who had an expertise around getting people to understand civic engagement and what has worked,” he said. “I was able to get some ideas, get some references, resources of some things that might help.”
Other priorities that attendees pressed the White House on included passage of the DREAM Act and the need for an executive order to halt the deportation of “DREAMers” as well as parents of children born in the U.S. and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
“I think it was a way of checking in,” Toledo said. “This is what we are doing, this is what we have done, what’s working, what’s not.”
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