CHCI CEO featured on Latino Magazine

Fostering the#Heretolead Generation

The challenges our country faces—Latino and immigrant communities in particular—are too complex and convoluted for any one group to tackle alone. Our nation now more than ever needs leadership and perspective that mirrors our increasingly diverse population and nuanced realities faced by all.

Since 1978, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) mission has been to develop the next generation ofLatino leaders—ensuring a diverse and inclusive America. And as we celebrate the Institute’s 40th anniversary, we recognize the magnitude of our mission and how much work lies ahead.

Robert Kennedy once said, “Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity.”

Robert Forty years ago, three visionary Latino members of Congress founded CHCI because they were committed to increasing Latino representation on Capitol Hill and across industries.  Establishing CHCI was a way to combat bigots, racists, and those who perpetuate social inequality. Through the exemplary actions of these emerging leaders, a new Latino American narrative would be celebrated and replicated among our Latino community, even when others minimized our progress.

Today’s landscape certainly differs than that of 40 years ago with there now being 39 Latino members in Congress and a clear increase in pursuing leadership and higher education amongst our community.  College enrollment rate for Latino students has gone up from 49 percent in 2000 to 71 percent in 2016. We have witnessed an incline in Latino representation in the corporate boardroom and  Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. fueling economies and creating jobs across the nation.

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