On Wednesday, October 12th, the White House hosted the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of the nation's 40 preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, for a policy summit on issues critical to the nation’s Latino community. NHLA leaders and others led a discussion with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Muñoz, other government officials, policy analysts and advocates on issues including criminal justice reform, economic opportunity, education, immigration, and health.
The summit covered key issues identified by NHLA in the 2016 Hispanic Public Policy Agenda, The policy agenda, originally released in February of this year, contains recommendations for presidential candidates and policymakers. White House staff at the summit spoke about the Obama Administration’s efforts to address the issues raised in NHLA’s Public Policy Agenda.
“This is a historic moment in our country and for the Latino community. Our collective power and influence is now undeniable with 27 million eligible Latino voters, and issues such as immigration at the center of our national discourse. We were grateful for the opportunity to have this conversation at the White House so that together, we can move and shape policy issues that are central to the well-being of our community and entire nation," said José Calderón, President of the Hispanic Federation.
“We have real policy challenges facing our community and we need the federal government to understand the vital role it plays in everything from protecting voting rights to immigration reform. Washington needs to hear from us and this summit at the White House is just part of a larger strategy to put ourselves before policymakers so that they understand what our communities need,” Calderón added.
The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda is composed of 40 of the leading national and regional Latino civil rights and public policy organizations and other elected officials, and prominent Latino Americans. For more information, visit: www.nationalhispanicleadership.org.
