Alivio Caucus Minutes

Midwest Spring Affiliate Caucus May 16th. 2003 Alivio Medical Center Ramona de Rosales Alicia Juarez Carmen Velasquez Miguel Palacio John Roy Castillo Crystell Ivonne Llado Concepcion Chavarria Angelica Cordova-Rajoo Connie Zapata Norma Polanco Edgar Hernandez Alicia Villarreal Saul Garcia Cecilia Huerta-Olivarez Mary Lou Olivarez-Mason Alejandrina Montoya Maria Pesquiera Jode Ocampo Rogelio Quintanar Simon Lopez Eric Rodriguez Lot Diaz Mary Isa Garayua Nina Rodriguez Sharon Douglas Carmen Granados

Academia Cesar Chavez Alivio Medical Center Alivio Medical Center Association House Cristo Rey Community Center El Centro de Servicios Sociales El Hogar del Nino Elgin Community College Elgin Community College Humboldt Park Economic Development Corporation La Casa de Esperanza, Inc. Latino Family Services Latino Youth, Inc. Mexican American Commission Michigan Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs Mujeres Latinas En Accion Mujeres Latinas En Accion NCLR Chicago NCLR Chicago NCLR Chicago NCLR Washington DC NCLR Washington DC OCCHA Springwell Community Housing and Development Corporation Springwell Community Housing and Development Corporation UMOS Inc.

Introductions Rogelio Quintanar welcomed the Affiliates to the Midwest Affiliate Caucus. The Affiliates took turns introducing each other and we welcomed the newest Affiliates to the network.

Approval of Caucus Minutes Rogelio Quintanar asked the Affiliates if they had had an opportunity to review the minutes from the fall caucus. Those that had not were given an opportunity to briefly review them. No one had any additional comments. A motion was made to approve them. It was seconded and the minutes were approved.

Affiliate Council Report The Affiliate Council (AC) met on March 3rd in Washington, D.C. It also held an extra session on the morning of March 4th.

1. The AC agreed that the current member attendance policy will remain in effect and be appropriately enforced. Members may not miss more than one meeting, consecutively. A second absence would trigger immediate review.

2. The NCLR shared the National Hispanic Legislative Agenda and the voting per senator and representative, and encouraged AC members to support the agenda by meeting with their representatives around NHLA-defined issues.

1. Special Business: AC Charter Review Next year the Charter expires, so this year time will be dedicated to reviewing the AC’s scope of work its reflection in the contents of the Charter 2. Expiration of terms. The following members’ terms were up: a) Far West – Luz Sarmina (ineligible for re-election based on term limits) b) California –Richard Amador (ineligible for re-election based on term limits) c) East – Arturo Lopez (eligible) d) Midwest – Alicia Villarreal (eligible) Note: The NCLR Board approved the division of the East into two regions, North and South, effectively adding two members to the AC. 2. Election Process Each region should confirm their election process during the spring caucuses.

AC members are elected for three-year terms by the Affiliates in the region they represent, and may be re-elected to serve a maximum of six consecutive years.

After six consecutive years, they must be off the Council for two years before becoming eligible for election. During each election, an Alternate is also elected.

Should an elected member not be able to fulfill his/her obligations and duties, the Alternate would take on the remaining portion of term. Each region shall democratically elect two representatives, one male and one female.

3. Affiliate Dues Increase Rather than mandating dues increase, the AC recommended that there be a voluntary increase, whereby NCLR would issue suggested levels and Affiliates would choosing whether to increase their payment.

Adopted from Miguel Palacio’s notes.

NCLR Updates Lot Diaz, Deputy Vice President for Community Development, gave the most recent update on the National Conference in Austin. All the workshops and trainings are scheduled, and if Affiliates need more information they can call the office in DC or they can find it on the NCLR web page, www.nclr.org.

Lot further provided information and an update on the Raza Development Fund (RDF).

The purpose of the fund is to assist Affiliates with the acquisition of low-interest loans.

Additionally, RDF exists to eliminate the common mistakes that could occur if an Affiliate went through the more traditional channels of acquiring a loan.

Eric Rodriguez, the DC-based Director of Economic Mobility Project, gave an update on the program. Eric made the Affiliates aware of the goals of the Economic Mobility Project. The main goal is to educate Latinos on how to take control of their finances, and to educate them on how to avoid predatory lenders and to avoid financial pitfalls that could set them back financially. They are working with banks, insurance companies, and other organizations. The hope is that Latinos become more savvy in understanding the process of buying a car or a home, and making other major financial decisions.

Eric further explained that ORAL has had a difficult time negotiating with the White House. They have taken a hardball approach; it appears that they are doing that with everyone and not just NCLR. ORAL has had to shift its efforts and work more closely with other members of the House and Senate. Eric was not able to forecast how this would affect funding for the next year.

Eric was also going to supply a list of Congress people and Senators who are friends of NCLR and are working on immigration-friendly legislation.

Miguel Palacio provided an update for the Affiliates who were not present on the first day of the caucus. Joshua Hoyt, the Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), conducted the training. The focus of the training was to give our Midwest Affiliates an overview on electoral politics and how they can use the political process to their benefit. Additionally, he mentioned that Joshua talked about the Immigration Freedom Ride. Information regarding the event is found at http://www.immigrantworkersfreedomride.com.

The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which is being organized by the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE), is a bus ride that will take place this fall; so far about 20 busloads of immigrants are scheduled to travel from a variety of cities across the U.S. to converge in Washington, DC on October 4, and then in New York City on October 6. NCLR is a co-sponsor, along with additional organizations, including ICIRR. We are working very closely with ICIRR on immigrants’ rights issues, and the freedom ride is part of in that collaboration.

NCLR is assisting the freedom ride in the following ways: - Acting as an official co-sponsor.

- Helping to build support on Capitol Hill for the event.

- Helping with the fundraising effort.

- Assisting with messaging, anticipating what the opposition might do, and similar logistics.

- Helping link interested Affiliates with local organizers of the event.

NCLR would like to encourage Affiliates to participate, and asks that they also spread the word about this event and encourage other interested parties to participate.

Affiliate Council Vote The Affiliate Council vote was conducted. First the ballots were handed out and the process was explained. When the nomination forms were sent out, four possible candidates were nominated: Alicia Villarreal from Latino Family Services; Holly Burns from the Hispanic Community Center; Mary Lou Mason from the Michigan Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs; and Angela Reyes from the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation. Candidates needed to be present at the Caucus to be considered. Mary Lou and Alicia were the only ones able to attend. Each took a few minutes to explain why she felt she was were the appropriate person for the job. The vote occurred before lunch, with the results to follow afterwards. Once the votes were tallied, Mary Lou Mason emerged as the new Affiliate Council Representative.

Break-Out Sessions Due to time constraints, the break-out sessions were not conducted. Instead, the Affiliates identified four areas of focus. They were selected as general areas, and then broken down into more tangible issues. The issues listed represented those faced by the community and the Affiliates.

Health • • • • • • • •

Access Funding Spanish speaking staff (Lack of) Lack of partners who have the same vision High insurance cost Challenge requirements paperwork Education Prevention of illnesses

Workforce/Economic Development • The fight for funding (WIA) • Financial-independence • Lack of affordable daycare • Retraining of Immigrant Professionals-recertification • Working with the undocumented • Lack of staff • Loss of program funds • Lack of collaboration Immigration • Funding (access to) • Parent education (for children who are citizens)

• • • • • • • • •

Civil rights and mental health services Access to health care, housing, education, jobs, banking Newcomer legislation Immigrants being taken advantage of Law education & legal assistance Profiling and exploitation Agency education on serving immigrants Indirect/direct backlash towards Latinos due to the scrutiny towards Middle Easterners Spanish/English only

Youth/Education • Parent education • Advocacy • Funding • Dropout rate • Low graduation rate • Youth development strategy • Staffing programs Thanks to funds raised in Chicago, the NCLR Midwest office was able to conduct a raffle and award four registrations to the NCLR Conference in Austin, TX. The winners were Carmen Granados from UMOS, Inc. in Milwaukee Wisconsin, Nina Rodriguez of the Springwell Housing and Community Development in Michigan, and Miguel Palacio from the Association House in Chicago.

Finally, Rogelio Quintanar announced to the Affiliates that this would be his last caucus as the NCLR Affiliate Services Coordinator. He will begin a new job with La Casa de Esperanza, Inc. in Wisconsin. He thanked all of the Affiliates for the work they accomplished while he was at the Midwest office and wished them well.

A motion was made to adjourn, the motion was seconded, and the meeting came to a close.