A Call to Action: 2011 Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit

By MARVIN LOPEZ, Vice-President, Corporate Relations – SHPE Silicon Valley
marvin@shpe-sv.org
Published: May 24, 2011

STANFORD, California – “San Antonio, Texas, looks today like America will look in the not too distant future. Is America ready? Are we as Latinos ready?” With that opening message from Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, the 2nd Annual Silicon Valley Latino Leadership Summit was held on Saturday, May 14th, 2011 on the Stanford University campus. Approximately 200 leaders from the Latino community gathered to discuss the successes and challenges facing Latinos in the Bay Area and beyond. Speakers and panelists from academia, corporate America, government, entrepreneurs and even Hollywood were on hand to share their stories, perspectives and to issue a call to action.

Of particular urgency, noted most of the speakers, is the educational challenge facing Latinos. Graciela Tiscareno-Sato, Founder of Gracefully Global Group and author of “Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them” noted that in order for America to retain its competitive edge, 5.5 million Latinos must attain a college education by 2020, which translates to over 600,000 degrees per year. Sadly, she pointed out, our college graduation rates are nowhere near that level. Improving the Latino college graduation rate is at the heart of The Ivy League Project and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, whose CEOs spoke at a panel presentation. Martin Mares, of the Ivy League project, outlined his program’s successful track record of sending students from the central valley of California to Ivy League schools; his program works with educationally disadvantaged students from the Fresno and Bakersfield areas and prepares them for the rigors of an Ivy League education through Saturday academies. Four students from the current cohort were in attendance, all of whom networked like seasoned professionals in business suits and with business cards in hand. Frank Alvarez from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) shared the challenges his organization faces in providing scholarship opportunities in this difficult economy. To address this challenge, HSF will be launching a campaign called Generation 1st Degree which will focus on raising funds and providing scholarships to first-generation Latino college students as studies have shown that when one member of the family attends college, other members are likely to follow suit and in particular subsequent generations.

Addressing the issue of Latino success in Corporate America, Dr. Robert Rodriguez, author of “Latino Talent” and Vice-President of ALPFA (Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting), noted that Latinos in corporate America have for the most part had “a great courtship but a bad marriage”. He indicated that for the most part, companies have been successful at courting and recruiting Latinos but the record is rather spotty in retention and development of their Latino talent.

Highlighting the efforts of the Obama administration to form a government that truly looks like America, Rebecca Cokley, Director of the Office of Presidential Priority Appointments, spoke about the many opportunities that exist to serve America through appointments in the Obama administration. While the vetting process is extensive and thorough and always mindful of what she termed “the New York Times test” (i.e. candidates must not have anything in their history that they would not want on the cover of the New York Times), the opportunities to make a direct impact on our communities are unparalleled.

Remember the Fly Girls and Homie The Clown of In Living Color? Rick Najera, writer for that seminal multi-cultural comedy show on Fox as well as movies such as Nothing Like the Holidays, spoke about the need for more Latinos in Hollywood to write our stories and our perspectives into movies, shows and plays. Rick noted that as Latinos comprise the highest movie attendance and highest TV-viewing demographic, Hollywood has to a large extent taken us for granted, not seeing a need to reach out and accurately portray our narratives.

Closing the conference, Sid Espinosa, Mayor of Palo Alto, shared his remarkable story of humble beginnings in the South Bay, degrees from Wesleyan and Harvard Universities, followed by increasingly visible corporate and political positions. He was elected as Mayor of Palo Alto in early 2010, the first Latino mayor in the city’s history. He closed the conference by highlighting three areas he believes are critical for Latinos to address if we are to succeed: greatly increase Latino achievement in STEM careers, leverage the democratizing power of social media, and most importantly, raise our youth’s awareness and understanding of our history and past. With that, the Conference adjourned, having energized and inspired us all to commit ourselves to the success of our community.

Copyright © 2011, SHPE Silicon Valley