HF Hosts White House Hispanic Community Action Summit

In partnership with the White House, the Hispanic Federation worked with Baruch's School of Public Affairs to present a Tri-State Hispanic Community Action Summit on Tuesday, October 18th. The summit connected more than a dozen senior White House Administration officials from several policy areas with two-hundred Hispanic leaders, small business owners and local officials to discuss issues critical to the Hispanic community in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and the nation.

The gathering began with a plenary session and was followed by a dynamic open space dialogue where summit participants worked together to define the agenda and shape the format of topics discussed. The dialogues covered a wide-range of topics from jobs and the economy to education, health care and immigration. Overall, the Summit provided a wonderful opportunity for community leaders and the Administration to share issues of concern, highlight models and best practices in key programmatic areas, and explore ways to collaborate to promote the well-being of the Latino community.

The following White House Administration officials participated in the Summit discussions: Jon Carson, Director, White House Office of Public Engagement; Rafael Borras, Under Secretary for Management, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Juan Sepúlveda, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics; Teresa Niño, Director, Office of Public Engagement, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Esther Olavarria, Counselor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Julie Rodriguez, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement; José Rico, Deputy Director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics; Ana Recio Harvey, Assistant Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration; Robert Asaro-Angelo, Regional Representative, U.S. Department of Labor; Jorge P. Silva-Puras, Regional Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration and Greg Darnieder, Senior Advisor to the Secretary, U.S. Department of Education.